Clothing registration device and clothing recommendation device, and online system comprising same

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an online system and a control method therefor, the online system comprising clothing devices which may receive physical information of a user, notify of a change in the physical information, register clothing information held by the user, put together the schedule of the user, weather, preferences, the trend in the area where the user is located, and information on the clothing being sold, and recommend customized clothing to the user.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an home appliance capable of imaging auser's body and stored clothing of the user, and recommending suitableclothing for the user according to schedule or weather, etc. andrecognizing a state of clothing worn on the user and of determining orguiding an appropriate clothing treating course, and to an on-linesystem including the home appliance.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, as a depth sensor function is installed in cameras, etc., thecamera accurately acquires body information of the user in a 3D manner.With development of AR (Augmented Reality) technology, only a desiredportion of the user's body may be virtually rendered and identified.Accordingly, a virtual fitting system by which the user virtually wearand identify the clothing without actually wears the clothing every timewhen purchasing or selecting the clothing is being activated.

Specifically, referring to Korean Patent Application Publication No.10-2014-0077820 (prior art 1), a conventional virtual fitting systemacquires detailed information such as a height, weight, size of the userand a length of each joint of the user by scanning the user's appearanceusing a depth sensor, and creates and stores a 3D model corresponding tothe user. Further, referring to Korean Patent Application PublicationNo. 10-2016-0088112 (prior art 2), a conventional virtual fitting systemmay match (render) the clothing provided by a seller with the user's 3Dmodel to allow the user to directly and visually identify the appearanceof the user wearing the clothing from his or her image.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a conventional virtual fitting system.

Referring to (a) in FIG. 1, a user 1 may stand in front of a virtualfitting device 2 where a camera with a depth sensor is installed. Inthis connection, the virtual fitting device 2 may display an image ofthe user 1 imaged by the camera as it is in a mirror manner. In order toaccurately grasp the body information of the user 1, a guide-line 3 maybe indicated on the virtual fitting device 2 to allow the user to bedisposed in a correct position or to take a specific pose.

Referring to (b) in FIG. 1, when the user takes the position or the poseguided by the guide-line 3, the virtual fitting device 2 renders anddisplays the clothing 5 selected by the user on the user's appearance 4.This allows the user to identify whether the clothing 5 suits the suerwithout wearing the clothing 5 directly.

In one example, referring to Korean Patent Application Publication No.10-2017-0115332 (prior art 3), a purchase system allows the userdirectly to purchase the clothing while the virtual fitting thereof isperformed. Thus, the user may not go to a place where the clothing 5 onwhich the virtual fitting is performed is actually present in order topurchase the clothing 5.

However, in the conventional virtual fitting system, clothinginformation including a size, shape, and material of the clothing to berendered must be pre-stored in order to perform the virtual fitting thatrenders the actual clothing on the user's image. Therefore, this virtualfitting system has a limitation in that virtual fitting may be performedonly on specific clothing provided by the seller who knows the clothinginformation in advance.

Therefore, the user could not perform the virtual fitting on clothingwhose clothing information is not provided by the seller.

Further, it is general that a plurality of clothing purchased from anumber of sellers who do not provide the clothing information for thevirtual fitting are stored in a home of a specific user. Therefore,there is a limitation that the specific user may not perform virtualfitting at all on the clothing that he/she purchased or the clothingthat he/she is storing. Therefore, even when the virtual fitting systemhas been developed, the system may not be generally and actually appliedto the the user.

When a plurality of clothing are present, the user may not know whichclothing is suitable for him or her. Therefore, the user has to try onthe plurality of clothing directly or perform virtual fitting severaltimes. Further, even when the plurality of clothing is virtually fitted,the user may not select clothing optimized for the user due to lack ofknowledge of fashion, brand, or and lack of fashion sense.

To solve this problem, a recommendation system has emerged that mayrecommend appropriate clothing according to the user's body information,purchase ability, and preferences.

Referring to Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2017-0006604(prior art 4), a conventional virtual fitting system recognizes theuser's body with a depth sensor, etc., and recommends clothing suitablefor the user's body.

Further, referring to Korean Patent Application Publication No.10-2014-0006294 (prior art 5), a conventional virtual fitting systemrecommends suitable clothing or brand for a user in consideration of notonly the user's body information, but also the user's stored clothing,preferences, and purchase history. As a result, even when the user lacksknowledge or information about the clothing suitable for the use, theclothing suitable for a current state of the user may be selected.

However, the conventional virtual fitting system has a limitation inwhich the system may recommend the clothing only when clothinginformation about the clothing to be recommended is pre-identified andpre-stored. Therefore, when the seller who produces the clothing ownedby the user does not provide the clothing information, the conventionalvirtual fitting system has a limitation in that the system may notproperly recommend suitable clothing among the clothing owned by theuser to the user.

Further, even when a home appliance may perform 3D modeling by scanninga user, the conventional virtual fitting system has a limitation in thatthe system may not use the home appliance to grasp the user's bodychange.

Moreover, since the conventional virtual fitting system may only be usedin a specific place where a seller providing a virtual system islocated, the conventional virtual fitting system may not be applied tocontinuously observe or recognize the body change of a specific user.Therefore, there is a limitation in that the conventional virtualfitting system may provide customized virtual fitting or recommendclothing to the specific user.

Further, although the conventional virtual fitting system recommends theclothing to the user, the user may not identify or verify whether theclothing is actually suitable for the user. For example, the user maynot determine whether the recommended clothing is suitable for abackground or situation completely different from a place where thevirtual fitting currently is performed. Further, the user may notdetermine whether the recommended clothing is appropriate for the otherperson who usually accompanies the user but is absent at a time ofvirtual fitting.

As a result, there is a problem that the virtual fitting technologycustomized for the specific user may not be used because there is nohome appliance to which the virtual fitting system is applied.

Further, a plurality of home appliances capable of washing or refreshingclothing may be disposed in the home. Therefore, the user may not beable to accurately determine which home appliance treats the clothingworn on the user.

For example, there is a problem in that even though the specificclothing should be subject to washing, the user could not properly treatthe clothing by putting the clothing into a home appliance that performsrefreshing.

Further, when a home appliance that refreshes the clothing provides aplurality of courses or options, the clothing may not be accuratelyrefreshed because the user does not know which course or option shouldbe performed according to a state of the clothing.

Furthermore, even though the specific clothing should be subject towashing, and when the user recognizes that the clothing is incorrectlyinserted into the clothing treating apparatus that performs the refresh,the user should re-enter the course or option of the washing machinethat performs washing. This is inconvenient.

As a result, conventionally, even though a plurality of home appliancescommunicate with each other or are managed through a specific server,there is a limitation in that the plurality of home appliances may notoperate in association with each other.

DISCLOSURE Technical Purpose

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliance thatmay store clothing information about clothing owned by a user.

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliancecapable of computing clothing information based on an image of anclothing owned by the user.

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliance thatmay acquire clothing information based on an image of clothing worn on auser.

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliance thatmay recommend suitable clothing to the user in consideration of weather,schedule, body information, fashion, preference, and stored clothinglist.

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliance thatmay analyze both owned clothes and clothes to be purchased and recommendclothing to the user, based on the analysis result, and an on-linesystem including the same.

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliance thatmay recommend clothing other than clothing owned by the user and mayallow the user to purchase the recommended clothing.

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliance thatmay compare recommended clothing with other clothing, compare therecommended clothing with other person information, or change abackground and compare the recommended clothing with the changedbackground, and an on-line system including the same.

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliance thatmay repeatedly image a specific user and detect body change thereof.

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a home appliance thatmay distinguish wearable clothing and non-wearable clothing from eachother based on a specific user's body change.

Technical Solution

The on-line system according to the present disclosure includes aclothing treating apparatus that may dry clothing with hot-air or steam.The clothing treating apparatus may dry the clothing by supplying heatedair and moisture to a chamber. In a chamber, a support bar on which ahanger holding the clothing is mounted may vibrate to remove wrinklesfrom the clothing and help deodorize the clothing. The clothing treatingapparatus may have a separate water supply tank for supplying the steam,and may include a collection tank that collects moisture condensed in aprocess of dehumidifying a space where clothing is placed.

The on-line system according to the present disclosure may furtherinclude a server and an external terminal device capable of providinginformation while communicating with the clothing treating apparatus.The clothing treating apparatus may be configured to output a scheduleon the day using a speaker and a screen as output means. The clothingtreating apparatus may recommend items such as clothing or accessoriesthat are suitable for current weather using the output means. Forexample, the clothing treating apparatus may guide words or voices suchas “Prepare an umbrella because it may rain tomorrow” using the outputmeans.

Further, the clothing treating apparatus may search for a seller ofclothing or accessories according to the user's request. Further, theclothing treating apparatus may display clothing or accessories providedby the searched seller.

The user may order selected clothing or accessories via the clothingtreating apparatus. The clothing treating apparatus may include avirtual fitting (VR) fitting service to help the user to decide theorder of the clothing or accessories.

The clothing treating apparatus may be connected to an external terminaldevice or the Internet via a communication module or an access point(AP). The clothing treating apparatus may identify a user's schedulestored in the external terminal device or the server, or may identify aschedule registered in an Internet account set by the user.

Further, the clothing treating apparatus may obtain weather informationfrom the Internet. The schedule or weather information may be directlyinput by the user through the input means of the clothing treatingapparatus. The input means may include a voice recognition microphone, atouch panel and a control panel disposed on a front face of the door.For example, the clothing treating apparatus may prepare N types ofimage (styling images, coordination images), or voice information inconsideration of the user's schedule and the weather of the day. Whenthe image is created, the apparatus may combine the clothing of the userregistered in a database (DB) to create one or more images. The image ofthe combination of clothes may be an image composed of the combinationonly of clothes, or may be an image on which the clothing is displayedusing a user image as a background.

The clothing treating apparatus according to the present disclosure mayrecommend clothing based on registered clothing. The clothing treatingapparatus may output an image to the output means, based on the clothesregistered in the DB, the schedule, and the weather. The output meansmay include a speaker and a display panel disposed on a front face ofthe door.

For example, the user may say “what to wear for tomorrow's meeting” tothe clothing treating apparatus. In response, the output means maydisplay a recommendation image along with a response indicating “Irecommend 3 styles for the meeting schedule” on a front face of thedoor. Further, the clothing treating apparatus may display words such as“Please choose a style you want” using the output means and thus allowthe user to an input a control command. The user may select a desiredimage via voice or touch.

When the user selects the desired image, the output means may output “Istart virtual fitting of a first style”. The output means may move thecorresponding image according to the user's pose.

The clothing treating apparatus may carry out a clothing purchase. Theimage generated by the clothing treating apparatus may include imagesprovided by clothing and accessory producers/sellers in addition to theclothing owned by the user. The clothing treating apparatus may ask ifthe user is willing to purchase clothing or accessories that is absentin the created image or the image selected by the user. When theclothing treating apparatus confirms the user's intention to purchasethe clothing or accessories, the clothing treating apparatus may send anonline order form to a seller of the corresponding clothing oraccessory.

For example, the user could output the intention “I'll wear this style”.In response, the output means may output “I recommend purchase of a tiesuitable for the selected style”. An image of a purchasable tie may bedisplayed on the output means. The user may select a desired item fromthe displayed image.

In one example, virtual fitting may simultaneously display the userimage and the clothing/accessory image on the display device. Theclothing or accessories may be rendered or combined with the user imagevia the input means (touch panel, voice recognition unit, and motionrecognition unit). Further, the user may change and select the images.

The on-line system may be used as follows. The user wakes up in themorning and identifies a travel schedule and a departure time using theexternal terminal device. The user may output, to the clothing treatingapparatus, “What should I wear during a business trip?. In response, theclothing treating apparatus may output “I prepares coordinationaccording to the schedule and weather information from August 31 toSeptember 1 in Berlin” and then may start analyzing the clothing. Afterthe analysis, the clothing treating apparatus may display a coordinationfor each day of the week (weather icon). The user currently wearingmidsummer clothes may then output “ it looks too hot!”. Then, theclothing treating apparatus says, “current Berlin temperature is that inearly autumn in Korea, and it may be chilly, and thus be sure to bring acardigan while traveling”.

The user may select a ‘additional recommendation function’ on the dayhaving the most important schedule by touching the input means. Theclothing treating apparatus may say “I start AR fitting from now”. Thus,the user may take a pose toward the clothing treating apparatus. Theuser may visually identify a state of wearing clothing indicated by theclothing treating apparatus, even when the user is currently wearingunderwear. The user may select the recommended clothing, and mayidentify that the user does not have a tie recommended along with therecommended clothing via the output means. Thus, the user makes apurchase request while saying “Please purchase this tie”. When theclothing treating apparatus receives the purchase request, the apparatusmay request additional information while saying “Please, input adelivery address?”. The user may provide a name of a hotel where theuser stays during a business trip as the delivery address.

In one example, the on-line system according to the present disclosuremay automatically detect the state of the clothing, and may provide acourse or option suitable for this state. For example, the user mayinput a coat in the clothing treating apparatus and press a careexecution button. The clothing treating apparatus may automaticallyselect a course or option based on a analyzing result of the clothingusing a chemical sensor or a camera. The apparatus may recommend theselected course using the output means.

The on-line system according to the present disclosure may performvirtual fitting. The virtual fitting may include matching anotherclothing with a specific clothing the user is currently wearing. Theclothing treating apparatus images the user using a camera. The displaydevice may display the user's image. The user may indicate the clothingworn on the user via hand motion or voice. The clothing treatingapparatus may compute clothing suitable for the indicated clothing. Inaddition to the indicated clothing, other clothing may be removed fromthe image. The output means may output a new image obtained by combiningthe stored clothing of the user with an image on which the user iswearing specific clothing. A plurality of images may be displayedaccording to the user's request. The output means may display theplurality of images sequentially.

A list of the clothing or accessories owned by the user may be stored inthe clothing treating apparatus, etc. The clothing treating apparatusmay instruct the user to input information about clothing, or receive animage stored in the user's external terminal device and separate aclothing image therefrom and store therein the clothing image.

The clothing treating apparatus may detect change in the user's bodyshape, and may notify the change in the body shape to the user. When thechange in the body shape is detected, the clothing treating apparatusmay select the clothing which the user may not wear and display theselected clothing on the display device.

In one example, the on-line system according to the present disclosuremay provide various virtual fitting services. For example, differentvirtual fittings may be provided depending on where the user stands infront of the clothing treating apparatus.

For example, when a user stands in a region that occupies 50% or more ofa display area provided by the display device, the clothing image basedon the schedule and the weather may be recommended by the apparatus. Theclothing treating apparatus may receive a command to change therecommended image, and may modify the recommended image using theclothing stored in the DB or purchase target clothing.

Further, when the user is standing in a region occupying an area smallerthan 50% of the display area provided by the display device, a pluralityof recommended images generated on that day may be displayed on thedisplay device at the same time. That is, two or more recommended imagesmay be displayed thereon at the same time. Alternatively, therecommended images may be sequentially displayed according to the user'scomparison command.

When the clothing treating apparatus recognizes both a specific user anda different user, the apparatus may recommend appropriate clothing foreach of the specific user and the different user. According to theuser's choice, the clothing treating apparatus may independentlyrecommend clothing for each of the specific user and the different useror may recommend mutually-related clothing such as a couple-look for thespecific user and the different user.

Further, in the virtual fitting scheme provided by the on-line systemaccording to the present disclosure, when the user rotates the body, theclothing may be visible in varying angles. Further, when the userrotates only the accessory, the user may view only the accessory atvarying angles. The clothing treating apparatus may identify whether theuser rotates the body or only the accessory using a motion camera.

The clothing treating apparatus according to the present disclosure mayregister the user's 3D profile using the camera. Further, the clothingtreating apparatus according to the present disclosure may access theserver and match a measured size of clothing based on each brand withthe 3D profile. In this way, the apparatus may recommend a suitablebrand for the user. Further, the clothing treating apparatus accordingto the present disclosure may recommend clothes suitable for the 3Dprofile among currently stored clothing.

Technical Effect

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance that may storeclothing information about clothing owned by a user.

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance capable of computingclothing information based on an image of an clothing owned by the user.

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance that may acquireclothing information based on an image of clothing worn on a user.

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance that may recommendsuitable clothing to the user in consideration of weather, schedule,body information, fashion, preference, and stored clothing list.

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance that may analyzeboth owned clothes and clothes to be purchased and recommend clothing tothe user, based on the analysis result, and an on-line system includingthe same.

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance that may recommendclothing other than clothing owned by the user and may allow the user topurchase the recommended clothing.

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance that may comparerecommended clothing with other clothing, compare the recommendedclothing with other person information, or change a background andcompare the recommended clothing with the changed background, and anon-line system including the same.

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance that may repeatedlyimage a specific user and detect body change thereof.

The present disclosure may realize a home appliance that may distinguishwearable clothing and non-wearable clothing from each other based on aspecific user's body change.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a conventional system that recommends clothing.

FIG. 2 shows a structure of an on-line system according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration of the on-line system according to thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration of a fitting unit that may register andrecommend clothing in the on-line system according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a clothing treating apparatus as one of home appliances inthe on-line system according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows a function of a virtual output interface of the clothingtreating apparatus of the on-line system according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a process of collecting and registering user's bodyinformation in the on-line system according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows a process of registering the user's stored clothing in theon-line system according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows one embodiment in which the process of FIG. 8 isimplemented.

FIG. 10 shows a result of performing the process of FIG. 9 multipletimes.

FIG. 11 shows a principle under which the on-line system according tothe present disclosure may recommend clothing.

FIG. 12 shows a process of recommending clothing in the on-line systemaccording to the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 shows a control method in which the on-line system according tothe present disclosure recommends clothing.

FIG. 14 shows one embodiment in which the on-line system according tothe present disclosure recommends clothing.

FIG. 15 shows another embodiment where the on-line system according tothe present disclosure recommends clothing.

FIG. 16 shows another embodiment in which the on-line system accordingto the present disclosure recommends clothing.

FIG. 17 shows an additional embodiment in which the on-line systemaccording to the present disclosure recommends clothing.

FIG. 18 shows still another embodiment in which the on-line systemaccording to the present disclosure recommends clothing.

FIG. 19 shows still yet another embodiment in which the on-line systemaccording to the present disclosure recommends clothing.

FIG. 20 shows a control method in which the on-line system according tothe present disclosure scans the user's body information and utilizesthe information.

FIG. 21 shows one embodiment in which the process of FIG. 20 isperformed.

FIG. 22 shows another embodiment in which the process of FIG. 20 isperformed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments disclosed herein will be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Herein, the same orsimilar reference numerals are allocated to the same or similarcomponents in different embodiments. Descriptions thereof are replacedwith first descriptions thereof. As used herein, the singular forms “a”and “an” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. Further, in describing theembodiments disclosed herein, when it is determined that detaileddescriptions of a related known component may obscure the gist of theembodiments disclosed herein, the detailed descriptions thereof may beomitted. Further, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings arepresented for easy understanding of the embodiments disclosed herein andshould not be construed as limiting the technical spirit disclosedherein to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

A plurality of home appliances that may be controlled by a specific usermay be arranged indoors, for example, in a home. Further, a plurality ofclothes A that may be worn by the specific user may be arranged orstored indoors, for example, in a home.

The plurality of home appliances may include a clothing registrationapparatus configured to register clothing and a clothing recommendationapparatus configured to recommend clothing. Each of the clothingregistration apparatus and clothing recommendation apparatus may beembodied as a home appliance.

In this connection, when the home appliance performs a function ofregistering clothing, the home appliance may be referred to as theclothing registration apparatus. When the home appliance performs afunction of recommending clothing, the appliance may be referred to asthe clothing recommendation apparatus.

That is, the clothing registration apparatus and the clothingrecommendation apparatus are defined in terms of functions. Thus, when ahome appliance such a washing machine, a refrigerator, a vacuum cleaneror an external terminal device has a function to register clothing, theappliance may be classified as the clothing registration apparatus. Whena home appliance such a washing machine, a refrigerator, a vacuumcleaner or an external terminal device has a function to recommendclothing, the appliance may be referred to as the clothingrecommendation apparatus.

In other words, when the clothing treating apparatus that refreshesclothing with hot-air or steam registers the clothing, the apparatus mayact as the clothing registration apparatus. When the clothing treatingapparatus that refreshes clothing with hot-air or steam has the clothingrecommendation function, the apparatus may act as the clothingrecommendation apparatus.

That is, when the clothing treating apparatus has a clothingrecommendation function and a clothing registering function, theapparatus may correspond to both the clothing registration apparatus andthe clothing recommendation apparatus.

The plurality of home appliance may include a washing machine 300capable of washing and drying at least one of the plurality of clothes Ausing detergent, etc., and a clothing treating apparatus 100 capable ofsupplying hot-air or steam to at least one of the plurality of clothes Aand refreshing the at least one of the plurality of clothes A.

The plurality of clothes A may include at least one of one or moreovercoats A1 such as coats or jumpers, one or more tops A2 such as ashirt or blouse, T-shirt, one or more bottoms A3 such as pants orskirts, and accessory A4 such as a bag or sunglasses, noble metal, or ascarf. Clothes such as one-piece dress which may not be classified as atop or bottom may be collectively referred to as an overcoat.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may include a refreshing-relatedinput interface 150 that receives commands to perform arbitrary coursesor options that may refresh at least one of the clothes A, and arefreshing-related output interface 140 that may output a state of thecourse or option. Further, the washing machine 300 may include awashing-related input interface 350 that receives a command to performan arbitrary course or option that may wash at least one of the clothesA, and a washing-related output interface 340 that may output the stateof the course or option. Accordingly, the user may input target clothesA into the clothing treating apparatus 100 or the washing machine 300and then directly input the command to individually control and operatethe clothing treating apparatus 100 or the washing machine 300.

In one example, the user may want to remotely control the washingmachine 300 and the clothing treating apparatus 100, or to operate thewashing machine 300 and the clothing treating apparatus 100 inconjunction with each other. Further, the user may want to activelyfamiliarize him/her with or utilize the various functions of the washingmachine 300 and the clothing treating apparatus 100.

To this end, the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may include a server 600 through which the user mayremotely control the washing machine 300 and the clothing treatingapparatus 100 or perform pairing therebetween.

The server 600 may provide external information including regionalinformation or weather information necessary for the washing machine 300and the clothing treating apparatus 100, and may deliver variousprograms thereto and perform updates thereof. The server 600 may beprovided from a company who manufactures and sells the clothing treatingapparatus 100 and the washing machine 300. Accordingly, the clothingtreating apparatus 100 and the washing machine 300 may be connected tothe server 600 to perform a command transmitted from the server 600, oruse information or algorithms provided from the server 600.

In one example, the clothing treating apparatus 100 or the washingmachine 300 may be directly connected to the server 600 forcommunication therebetween, or may be configured to connect to an accesspoint (AP) 500 to communicate with the server 600.

Therefore, the server 600 may register an unique device ID of each ofthe clothing treating apparatus 100 and the washing machine 300 via theAP 500, or store port information or IP information of the AP 500 inassociation with the clothing treating apparatus 100 and the washingmachine 300.

In one example, the user using the clothing treating apparatus 100 orthe washing machine 300 may remotely receive a service request tocontrol the clothing treating apparatus 100 and the washing machine 300,or may request specific functions to the server 600.

Therefore, the on-line system according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure may include an external terminal device 400 to allow the userto directly access the server 600 to control the clothing treatingapparatus 100 and the washing machine 300, or to request variousservices provided from the server 600. The external terminal device 400may refer to a device such as a mobile phone, a smartphone, a notebook,and a computer, which is separate from the home appliance or the serverand may include devices having a communication module to enablecommunication with an external component.

An application program that may allow the external terminal device 400to connect to the server 600 may be installed on the external terminaldevice 400. Accordingly, the external terminal device 400 maycommunicate directly with the server 600, and the server 600 maycommunicate with the clothing treating apparatus 100 and the washingmachine 300.

As a result, the user may request a remote service via the externalterminal device 400 and easily grasp information such as serviceexecution and completion. Further, the clothing treating apparatus 100and the washing machine 300 may be controlled by the external terminaldevice 400 while not being directly connected to the external terminaldevice 400.

In one example, the clothing treating apparatus 100 has usually avertical dimension larger than that of the washing machine 300. That is,the clothing treating apparatus 100 generally has a vertical dimensiongreater than a horizontal dimension to accommodate unfolded clothingtherein. For example, the clothing treating apparatus 100 may be tallerthan the user. Further, due to the nature of the clothing treatingapparatus 100, the clothing treating apparatus 100 may be disposed wherethe clothes A is stored. Therefore, when the clothing treating apparatus100 may act as a mirror, the user may not move to an actual mirror whenwearing the clothes A.

To this end, the clothing treating apparatus 100 may further include afitting unit 200 that displays a state in which the user wears theclothing on an exposed face thereof. The fitting unit 200 may beembodied as a panel that may reflect light and may be configured toreflect the user's body as it is. Further, the fitting unit 200 has aheight larger than a width so that an entire body of the user may bereflected thereon as much as possible. Therefore, the user may identifya state in which the user is holding or wearing the clothing A refreshedin the clothing treating apparatus 100, or may identify a state in whichthe user is holding or wearing the clothing A stored near the clothingtreating apparatus 100.

An example in which the fitting unit 200 is disposed on the clothingtreating apparatus 100 has been described. However, this is only oneembodiment. In another example, the fitting unit 200 may be disposed ona home appliance such as the washing machine 300, a refrigerator or avacuum cleaner or may be disposed on the external terminal device 400.

In one example, the user may not know which clothing among the pluralityof clothing A is suitable for the user and may want to know how tocombine the plurality of clothing A to wear the combination thereon.

Further, as a height of the user increases or a weight of the userincreases, the user may not recognize which of the plurality of clothingA suits or does not suit the user.

In this situation, the user must repeatedly wear the plurality ofclothing A to identify which of the plurality of clothing A suits ordoes not suit the user. Even when you wear the plurality of clothing Arepeatedly, the user may not be sure that the clothing the user wears issuitable for the user.

To this end, the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may provide a virtual fitting service by which theuser may indirectly identify a state in which the user wears theplurality of clothing via the fitting unit 200 even when the user doesnot directly wear the plurality of clothing A. Specifically, the on-linesystem according to the present disclosure may display a state in whichthe plurality of clothing A are rendered on an image or a screen of theuser displayed on the fitting unit 200.

In one example, the plurality of clothing may be a purchase targetclothing that the user wants to purchase, or may be clothing that theuser directly stores. In other words, the user may want to know theclothing to be purchased that suits the user or is necessary for theuser. The user may want to know which one of the plurality of clothingthe user owns is suitable for the user.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosureis configured to apply the virtual fitting service to not only theclothing to be purchased by the user, but also clothing the user owns,and may recognize and store a material, shape, size, volume, and colorof the plurality of clothing A held by the user for recommendationthereof

Further, the on-line system according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure may recognize and store the user's height, weight, volume,length and of arms and legs, etc., and may compute a state in which theuser wears the clothing.

Accordingly, the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may be configured to recommend specific clothingamong the plurality of clothing A to the user in consideration of atleast one of current weather, user preference, and fashion. Further, thesystem may be configured to compute further necessary clothing inaddition to the plurality of clothing A and recommend purchase thereofto the user.

Specifically, the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may be configured to consider information on clothingowned by the user, information on clothing that the user may purchase,the user's body information, the user's schedule, the user'spreferences, current in-fashion clothing, and weather information, etc.and then recommend appropriate clothing or purchase thereof based on theconsiderations to the user via the fitting unit 200. In this connection,the clothing itself recommended by the on-line system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure may be recommended to the user.Alternatively, the clothing may be rendered to the user's image in anreal manner, and thus a state equivalent a state in which the user isactually wearing the clothing may be displayed and recommended.

In one example, both the clothing treating apparatus 100 and the washingmachine 300 among the home appliances may treat the clothing. Therefore,the user may not know exactly whether to refresh her/his clothing usingthe clothing treating apparatus 100 or wash the clothing using thewashing machine 300.

Therefore, in the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the clothing treating apparatus 100 may beconfigured to determine the wrinkling level or the contamination levelof the clothes. When the contamination level is high, the clothingtreating apparatus 100 may be configured to indicate to the user thatwashing of the clothing is performed using the washing machine 300.Furthermore, the clothing treating apparatus 100 may directly transferthe contamination level or the material of the clothing to the washingmachine 300 via the server 600 or the AP 500, etc. to allow the washingmachine 300 to determine a suitable course or option based on thecontamination level or the material.

In one example, the user may not be able to accurately recognize or befamiliar with the course or option provided from the clothing treatingapparatus 100. Therefore, the on-line system according to one embodimentof the present disclosure may be configured so that the clothingtreating apparatus 100 may automatically determine an appropriate courseor option based on an analyzing result of the wrinkling level or thecontamination level of the clothes.

FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of a structure of on-line system accordingto the present disclosure capable of performing the above-describedfunctions.

The external terminal device 400 of the on-line system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure includes a terminal input interface430 for inputting a command to operate the external terminal device, aterminal display 440 that displays the state of the external terminaldevice 400 and information received from server 600, a long-rangecommunication module 451 configured to communicate with the server 600disposed in a remote location, a short-range communication module 452configured to communicate with the home appliances such as the clothingtreating apparatus 100 or the washing machine 300 disposed adjacentthereto, a terminal controller 420 that controls the components of theexternal terminal device, and a terminal storage 410 that storesinformation received from the terminal input interface or thecommunication module.

The short-range communication module may be configured to communicatewith a communication device within a certain distance, for example,using radio frequency based communication protocols such as WIFI,Bluetooth, and ZigBee. The long-range communication module may beconfigured to communicate with a communication device at a remotelocation via a base station or a communication network using 3G, LTE, or4G.

The server 600 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure mayinclude a communication device 610 configured to communicates with theexternal terminal device 400 or communicate with the home appliance suchas the clothing treating apparatus 100 or the washing machine 300, orthe AP 300, a computing and processing device 620 that generates oranalyzes various control signals, and a storage device 630 that storesinformation generated or received by or from the external terminaldevice, the home appliance, or the computing and processing device.

Specifically, the storage device 630 of the server 600 may store thereinthe user's stored clothing information AI, the user's body informationBI, background information DI where the user is located or may belocated, other person information EI including body information of theother person who accompanies the user, and clothing information of theother person, and payment information FI required for the user to make apurchase online. Those information may be obtained from the user'sexternal terminal device 400, and the home appliance such as theclothing treating apparatus 100 or the washing machine 300. The storedclothing information AI, the user's body information BI, etc. may becollected via the external terminal device 400 or the fitting unit 200disposed in the home appliance. Further, the storage device 630 maystore therein a recommendation algorithm capable of recommending whichclothing is suitable for the user at a current time based on the aboveinformation.

The recommendation algorithm may be embodied as an algorithm in whichwhen at least one of the user's body information, the schedule, theweather information, and the clothing information AI selected by theuser is input thereto, suitable clothing therefor is immediately outputtherefrom.

The recommendation algorithm may be provided directly by the seller whosells the home appliance. For example, big data including clothing whichpeople in a region where the user is located, in a age group similar tothe user, and having similar occupation to that of the user, etc., wear,and other clothing data provided from the clothing sellers may becollected and stored in the storage device 630 of the server 600. Thecomputing and processing device 620 of the server may compute the bigdata based on deep learning to generate the recommendation algorithm.The recommendation algorithm may be stored in the storage device 630 ortransmitted to the external terminal device 400 or the home applianceincluding the clothing treating apparatus 100 or the washing machine 300through the communication device 610. Detailed descriptions thereof willbe described later.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may include a refreshing-related main storage 170 inwhich an arbitrary course or option to refresh the clothing is stored, arefreshing-related main controller 180 to execute one course or optionof the arbitrary courses or options, and a refreshing-relatedcommunication module 260 configured to communicate with the homeappliance such as the washing machine 300, the server 600, the externalterminal device 400 or the AP 500.

The refreshing-related main controller 180 may be configured to preventstandby power consumption by cutting off power when an operation of theclothing treating apparatus 100 is completed or stopped. However, therefreshing-related main controller 180 may be configured to allow therefreshing-related communication module 260 to maintain a state in whichpower is always supplied to the refreshing-related communication module260 such that the refreshing-related communication module 260 maintainsa communication state with the server 600.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may include a refreshing-relatedinput interface 150 configured to input a command to perform one of thearbitrary courses or options, and a refreshing-related output interface140 to output the state of the clothing treating apparatus orinformation received from the refreshing-related communication module260.

For example, the refreshing-related input interface 150 and therefreshing-related output interface 140 may be disposed on an outer faceof the clothing treating apparatus 100 to facilitate user accessthereto. The refreshing-related input interface 150 may include arefreshing-related button 152 for inputting the washing course/option orthe power, a refreshing-related microphone 151 for receiving soundsignals such as voice commands, and a refreshing-related camera 153 forobtaining image signals. Further, the refreshing-related outputinterface 140 may include a washing-related screen or arefreshing-related screen 142 for presenting information using an image,and a refreshing-related speaker 141 for outputting a sound signal.Further, the refreshing-related output interface 140 may be embodied asa touch panel and configured to serve as a refreshing-related inputinterface.

The refreshing-related communication module 260 may include arefreshing-related communication modem 261 configured to communicatewith the server 600, the AP 300, the external terminal device 400, andthe home appliances such as the washing machine 300, arefreshing-related communication controller 262 configured to controlthe refreshing-related communication modem 261, and a refreshing-relatedcommunication storage 263 that stores information received from therefreshing-related communication modem 261 or information generated fromthe refreshing-related communication controller 262. Therefreshing-related communication module 260 may be configured to act asa short-range communication module and a long-range communication moduleas in the external terminal device 400. The refreshing-relatedcommunication module 260 may be configured to receive the recommendationalgorithm provided from the server 600 and store the algorithm in therefreshing-related communication storage 263, and transmit therecommendation algorithm to the fitting unit 200.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may further include a sensor 160capable of recognizing or detecting the contamination level or thewrinkling level of the clothes A, and may further include refreshenhancing means 190 that may remove or lower the contamination level orthe wrinkling level of the clothing.

For example, the sensor 160 may include a chemical sensor 161 thatsenses an air contamination level inside the clothing treating apparatus100, or an inside camera 162 that may image the clothing or the space inwhich the clothing is accommodated. The refreshing-related maincontroller 180 may be configured to calculate a contamination level orthe wrinkling level based on the state of the clothing receiving spaceas detected by the sensor 160 and determine a suitable course or optionamong the arbitrary courses or options, based on the contamination levelor the wrinkling level.

Further, the refreshing-related main controller 180 may transmitinformation about the contamination level or the wrinkling level to thewashing machine 300 via the refreshing-related communication module 260when the contamination level or the wrinkling level is higher than orequal to a reference value. The refreshing-related communication module260 may transmit information on the contamination level or the wrinklinglevel to the server 600 or the washing machine 300.

Further, the refreshing-related main controller 180 may displayrecommendation that the clothing should be washed in the washing machine300 on the refreshing-related output interface 140.

The washing machine 300 according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure includes a washing-related main storage 380 in which anarbitrary course or option to remove foreign substances from clothing isstored, a washing-related main controller 370 performing one course oroption among the arbitrary courses or options, and a washing-relatedcommunication module 360 configured to communicate with the externalterminal device 400 or the AP 300, and the refreshing-relatedcommunication module 260.

The washing-related main controller 370 prevents standby powerconsumption by cutting off the power supply when the operation of thewashing machine 300 is finished or stopped. However, the washing-relatedmain controller 370 may be configured to allow the washing-relatedcommunication module 360 to always maintain a state in which power issupplied thereto to maintain the communication state thereof.

The washing machine 300 may include a washing-related input interface350 for receiving a command to perform the arbitrary course or option,and a washing-related output interface 340 that outputs the state of thewashing machine 300. The washing-related input interface 350 and thewashing-related output interface 340 may be configured in a similarmanner to those of the clothing treating apparatus 100.

The washing-related communication module 360 includes a washing-relatedcommunication modem 361 configured to communicate with at least one ofthe server 600, the AP 500, the external terminal device 400, and theclothing treating apparatus 100, a washing-related communicationcontroller 362 configured to control the washing-related communicationmodem 361, and a washing-related communication storage 363 that storesinformation received from the washing-related communication modem 362.The washing-related communication module 360 may be configured to act asa short-range communication module and a long-range communication moduleas in the external terminal device 400.

As a result, the clothing treating apparatus 100 and the washing machine300 may be configured to communicate with each other via therefreshing-related communication module 260 and the washing-relatedcommunication module 360 or with the external terminal device 400 andthe server 600 via the refreshing-related communication module 260 andthe washing-related communication module 360. Thus, the washing machine300 may receive and store information about the contamination level orthe wrinkling level of the clothes in advance via the washing-relatedcommunication module 360. Then, the washing-related main controller 370may determine an appropriate course or option based on the contaminationlevel or the wrinkling level. In another example, the server 600 maypre-determine a course or option suitable for the clothing state anddeliver the same to the washing-related communication module 360.

In one example, the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may further include the fitting unit 200 thatcollects the user's body information BI, the user's stored clothinginformation AI, the indoor background information DI, etc. and providesthe virtual fitting service to the user.

As described above, the fitting unit 200 may be disposed on the clothingtreating apparatus 100, and may be configured to communicate with therefreshing-related communication module 260 or the components of theclothing treating apparatus 100.

In one example, the refreshing-related main storage 170 may store anutterance list that matches a user's voice command and the button 153 ofthe refreshing-related input interface 150 with each other. When therefreshing-related input interface 150 receives a voice command via themicrophone 153, the refreshing-related input interface 150 may beconfigured to compare the voice command with the utterance list witheach other and select a command based the comparing result and then sendthe selected command to the refreshing-related main controller 180 orthe communication module 260.

When the refreshing-related main controller 180 may directly receive andprocess the command, the refreshing-related main controller 180 mayoperate the components of the clothing treating apparatus 100 accordingto the command. Further, when the communication module 260 receives thecommand, the module 260 may transmit the command to the server 600 torequest transmission of a command to operate the components of theclothing treating apparatus 100 from the server 600. The server 600 maybe configured to allow the clothing treating apparatus 100 to executethe corresponding command via the communication module 260.

Hereinafter, a configuration and a function of the fitting unit 200according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be describedwith reference to FIG. 4.

The fitting unit 200 may include an imaging unit 220 that images theuser's body or the clothing possessed by the user, and a virtual outputinterface 210 that may display the user or the clothing captured by theimaging unit 220.

The imaging unit 220 may include at least one of a depth camera 221 thatmay image not only the shape of the user's body or the stored clothingA, but also an area and a volume thereof, a position camera 222 thatdetects the change of the user's position and the position of theclothing, and a motion cameras 223 that may detect changes in motion orclothing of the user. The depth camera 221, the position camera 222, andthe motion camera 223 may be disposed individually, or may be integratedinto one camera or may be integrated with the camera 153 which acts asthe refreshing-related input interface 150 of the clothing treatingapparatus 100. For example, the depth camera 221 may be embodied as acamera that calculates a depth value of each pixel of an image. Thiscalculation may not be performed in a 2D camera. The depth camera 221may include a plurality of the depth cameras.

As a result, the imaging unit 220 may be configured to calculate thedepth of the pixel of the user or the clothing imaged via two or morecamera modules to acquire the 3D image.

In one example, the imaging unit 220 may also perform a useridentification function. For example, the imaging unit 220 may beconfigured to identify a specific user and another user. The imagingunit 220 may be configured to recognize the iris of each of a pluralityof the users or to detect one of a face, a body feature, and a shapethereof to identify the plurality of the users.

The fitting unit 200 may further include an augmented computing unit 230that extracts and recognizes the user's body information or clothinginformation from the image captured with the imaging unit 220.

The augmented computing unit 230 may include a contour estimating unit231 that extracts an appearance or a contour of the user's body orclothing from the image captured by the imaging unit 220, a clothingseparating unit 232 that separates clothing from the user's body, avolume sensing unit 233 that computes the user's body volume or clothingvolume, and a clothing analyzing unit 234 that recognizes the material,color, shape, and type of the extracted clothing. Thus, the augmentedcomputing unit 230 may acquire the clothing information AI including theshape, color, material, brand, and volume of the clothing and the bodyinformation BI including the user's height, volume, length of eachjoint, and skin color from the image captured by the imaging unit 220.

The imaging unit 220 may image not only the user or clothing, but alsoan indoor space where the user is absent. The augmented computing unit230 may include a background recognition unit 235 that recognizes thespace as a basic background. The background recognition unit 235 may beused when the contour estimating unit 231 recognizes the contour or theclothing separating unit 232 separates clothing from the user's body,based on a comparing result between the background image and the currentcaptured image. Accordingly, the augmented computing unit 230 mayacquire background information DI about the background in which no userexists.

In one example, the fitting unit 200 may include an augmented storage240 in which the augmented computing unit 230 stores informationanalyzed from the image captured by the imaging unit 220.

The augmented storage 240 may store therein all information extracted bythe augmented computing unit 230 from the image captured by the imagingunit 220. For example, the clothing information AI, the body informationBI of the user, and the background information DI which are extractedand acquired by the augmented storage 240 from the user image and theplurality of clothing images as imaged by the imaging unit 200 may bestored in the database. In another example, the background informationDI may include another background received from the refreshing-relatedcommunication module 260. Another background may include a backgroundprovided by the server 600 and a background provided by the externalterminal device 400.

Further, the augmented storage 240 may also store therein the otherperson information EI including another user other than the user or aperson who does not use the clothing treating apparatus 100 other thanthe user according to the user's selection. The other person informationEI may include at least one of body information of the other person,clothing information preferred by the other person, and wearinginformation about a state in which the other person wears specificclothing. The other person information EI may be obtained by theaugmented computing unit 230 analyzing the image captured by the imagingunit 220 or the image received by the refreshing-related communicationmodule 260.

Further, the augmented storage 240 may further store therein the paymentinformation FI used for purchasing clothing that the user does not own.For example, the payment information FI may include external seller'ssales information, user's bankbook information, user's payment cardinformation, user's authentication information, and the like.

The augmented computing unit 230 may further include a comparisonrecognition unit 236 configured to compare information stored in theaugmented storage 240 with information currently imaged by the imagingunit 220 and recognize differences and similarities therebetween. Forexample, the comparison recognition unit 236 may detect a change in theuser's body or a change in the clothing worn on the user. The comparisonrecognition unit 236 may recognize the user's body ratio or face, andaccurately recognize a specific user based on a comparing result betweena previously captured image and a currently captured image and mayrecognize changes in the body of the specific user or clothing worn onthe specific user.

In one example, the comparison recognition unit 236 may compare andanalyze the stored clothing information AI to grasp the user'spreference. The user's preference may include at least one ofinformation on a type, style, size, color, material, brand, and fashiontrend (such as office look, see-through look), and the like of theuser's preferred clothing.

In other words, the type, style, size, material, and color of clothesthat the user prefers among various types, materials, and colors ofclothes may be stored, as the preferences, in the augmented storage 240.The stored clothing information AI may be associated with preferencelevels. This preference information may be used to extract clothingsuitable for the user from the stored clothing information AI.

In one example, the augmented storage 240 may store therein not only thestored clothing of the specific user as imaged by the imaging unit 220,but also purchase target clothing information CI that may be purchasedby the user and received from the refreshing-related communicationmodule 260. The purchase target clothing information CI may includematerial, shape, volume information, etc. of clothing of a brandpreferred by the user, clothing suitable for the user's body informationB, and clothing provided by the seller and suitable for the user'spayment information FI.

The fitting unit 200 may include a recommendation unit 250 that mayapply, to the recommendation algorithm, at least one of the informationstored in the augmented storage 240, the information obtained by theaugmented computing unit 230 analyzing an image currently captured bythe imaging unit 220, and the weather information, the scheduleinformation, the fashion information, the purchase target clothinginformation, etc. as received via the refreshing-related communicationmodule 260 and may output the clothing suitable for the user.

The recommendation unit 250 may be configured to directly execute therecommendation algorithm to recommend the suitable clothing to the user,or to receive the execution result of the recommendation algorithm fromthe server 600 to recommend the suitable clothing to the user.

When the recommendation unit 250 directly executes the recommendationalgorithm, the recommendation unit 250 may include a stored clothingmatching unit 251 which inputs the current state information and thestored clothing information AI into the recommendation algorithm todetermine the suitable clothing, a purchase target clothing matchingunit 252 that inputs the current state information and the purchasetarget clothing information CI into the recommendation algorithm todetermines the suitable clothing, and a matching level determinationunit 253 that provides a matching level to each of the stored clothingmatching unit 251 and the purchase target clothing matching unit 252.

The recommendation unit 250 may recommend the appropriate clothing tothe user from the stored clothing A and the purchase target clothing CIvia the stored clothing matching unit 251 and the purchase targetclothing matching unit 252, respectively.

The recommendation unit 250 may first compute the matching level of thestored clothing information AI to recommend the suitable clothing to theuser. When the matching level is lower than a preset value, therecommendation unit 250 may compute the matching level of the purchasetarget clothing information CI to recommend suitable clothing to theuser. As a result, the recommendation unit 250 may actively utilize theclothing A that the user possesses, and thus may prevent unnecessarypurchases.

The matching level determination unit 253 may include database thatstores therein information on a matching level at which various clothesmatch each other. The database may be received from the server 600. Thematching level determination unit 253 may create database includinginformation on the matching level between various products, including alevel at which the top and bottom of specific styles match each other, alevel at which specific colored clothes match each other, a level atwhich miscellaneous accessories such as bags, scarfs and sunglassesmatch specific style clothing. Alternatively, the matching level may bea computed value as empirically extracted when the database is subjectto a deep learning process in the server 600.

Hereinafter, one embodiment for calculating the matching level will bedescribed. One embodiment to be described later may be applied to thedatabase creation process, and may be applied to a process in which thedatabase is subject to the deep learning process.

Basically, the top matches the bottom. Specifically, the shirt or blouseamong the top matches the jacket or cardigan, etc. The jacket may matcha coat. Further, miscellaneous goods such as bags, shoes, and scarf maymatch a state in which the user wears both the top and bottom.Accessories such as sunglasses, necklaces, and earrings may match astate in which the user wears both the top and bottom.

Regarding a product for a layered look, the skirt and leggings as thebottom may match each other. However, long jeans and long cotton pantsas the bottom may not match each other. This is because the user doesnot usually wear both of jeans and cotton pants at the same time.

In one example, even when the top and bottom may basically match eachother, the matching level therebetween may vary depending on the type,color, and material of the top and bottom. For example, jeans may not gowell with hanbok (Korean traditional clothes). In some cases, clothes ofspecific colors do not match well with each other. Further, the matchinglevel between the accessories and miscellaneous goods and clothing ofvarious materials and colors may vary according to the color andmaterial of the accessories and miscellaneous goods.

Thus, the matching level refers to information obtained by statisticallycalculating the levels at which the various products match each other.For example, as described above, jeans and cotton pants may not matcheach other and the user does not usually wear both of jeans and cottonpants at the same time. Thus, the matching level therebetween is 0.

Whether both products match each other or not may be inferred based onthe number of combinations therebetween that may be detected in data. Inconclusion, as the matching level between two products is higher, thenumber of combinations therebetween that may be detected in data may belarger. As the matching level between two products is lower, the numberof combinations therebetween that may be detected in data may besmaller.

Thus, the number of combinations therebetween that may be detected indata may be converted into the matching level therebetween. As a result,when the matching level value is higher, the combination therebetween issuitable. When the matching level value is low, the combinationtherebetween is not suitable.

The recommendation unit 250 may compute the matching levels of thestored clothing and the purchase target clothing, respectively, based onmatching level information stored in the matching level determinationunit. When there is clothes having a matching level equal to or higherthan a reference value among the stored clothing information AI, therecommendation unit 250 may recommend the stored clothes while excludingthe purchase target clothing. However, the recommendation unit 250 maybe configured to recommend the clothing having the matching level equalto or higher than the reference among the stored clothing informationAI.

For example, when jeans are extracted as recommended clothing, thematching level between the recommended clothing and cotton pantsbelonging to the stored clothing or the purchase target clothing is 0,thereby preventing occurrence of the case where jeans and cotton pantsmatch each other at the same time.

In one example, the matching level determination unit 253 may determinethe priority of clothing to be recommended based on the computedpreference of the user. For example, when a plurality of clothing havesimilar matching levels, specific clothing may be selected andrecommended from the plurality of clothing, based on the user'spreference. As a result, user preferences may be considered amongin-fashion clothes, and recommendation reviews may be good.

Further, the matching level determination unit 253 may be configured tocompute matching levels of clothes having higher user preference andrecommend specific clothing therefrom. As a result, the preference maybe prioritized over the fashion trend, such that the user' preferencesmay be first considered. In one example, the recommendation unit 250 mayinclude an additional recommendation unit 254 which is configured torecommend additional accessories and the like.

The additional recommendation unit 254 may be configured toautomatically determine the accessory that is separately requested fromthe user or whose a matching level increases in the matching leveldetermination unit 253 and to recommend the accessory.

In one example, the fitting unit 200 may further include a virtualoutput interface 210 that outputs the clothing recommended by therecommendation unit 250 to the user.

The virtual output interface 210 may include a display panel 211 thatdisplays the recommended clothing in a video or image format, and aspeaker 212 that may output that the clothing should be purchased usingvoice.

The clothing may be sized into an actual scale relative to the user'simage and may be rendered to the user's image and may be displayed onthe display panel 211. That is, a state in which the clothing is worn onthe user may be rendered on the user's image. Thus, the user mayidentify whether the clothing is suitable for the user even withoutactually wearing the recommended clothing.

The augmented computing unit 250 may include a clothing combination unit237 that combines the clothing recommended by the recommendation unit250 with the user's image or avatar. The clothing combination unit 237may combine clothing information of the recommended clothing with theimage of the user captured by the imaging unit 220 to render a state inwhich the clothing is worn on the user's body. The clothing combinationunit 237 may consider the user's body ratio and the clothing ratio whencombining the clothing and the body image each other. The clothingcombination unit 237 may be configured to display other portions of theclothing according to the movement of the user.

In one example, the augmented computing unit 250 may include anadditional combination unit 238 that additionally combines thecombination image of the user body and the clothing obtained by theclothing combination unit 237 with accessories recommended by theadditional recommendation unit 254.

3D information of the clothing or the accessory as already measured orcomputed may be stored in the stored clothing information AI and thepurchase target clothing information CI. Therefore, the augmentedcomputing unit 230 may compute the state in which the clothing oraccessory is worn on the user's actual body size and display the stateon the virtual output interface 210.

When the clothing that the user is currently wearing is the bottom, theaugmented computing unit 230 may recommend bottom information about thebottom owned by the user (jeans, blue skirt, three-quarter length pants,yam based pans) based on the matching level in the stored clothinginformation AI or the purchase target clothing information CI. Then, theaugmented computing unit 230 may combine the recommended clothing withthe user's image to create a virtual fitting image and may display thevirtual fitting image on the virtual output interface 210.

As described above, according to embodiments of the present disclosure,the user may directly identify, with his or her own eyes, how well theclothes he/she owns and the recommended clothes match each other.

Hereafter, a structure in which the fitting unit 200 is installed in theclothing treating apparatus 100 will be described.

FIG. 5 shows one embodiment of a structure of the clothing treatingapparatus 100.

Referring to (a) in FIG. 5, the clothing treating apparatus 100according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a cabinet110 having a front opening, a door 111 that is pivotably disposed at thecabinet 110 to open and close the opening, an inner casing 120 which isdisposed in the cabinet and which provides a clothing receiving space Sin which clothes A is accommodated, a hot-air or steam supply 700communicating with the inner casing 120 to supply at least one ofhot-air or steam to the clothing receiving space S, and hanger supports126 and 127 that are disposed on the inner casing 120 and/or the door111 to support hangers holding the clothes A inside the clothingreceiving space S.

The cabinet 110 may be constructed to define an appearance of theclothing treating apparatus and may have a vertical dimension greaterthan a horizontal dimension. As a result, the shown overcoat A1 as wellas the bottom A3 that extends vertically in an unfold manner may beaccommodated in the inner casing 120. Thus, unnecessary wrinkles may notoccur in the received clothes A.

The cabinet 110 may be made of a metal material. As long as the cabinetmay maintain a strength, the cabinet may be made of a resin materialsuch as reinforced plastic.

The inner casing 120 may be made of a material that is not physicallydeformed by or chemically reacted with foreign substances released fromthe clothes A or the hot-air or steam supplied from the supply. Forexample, the inner casing may be made of a styrene resin series such asABS and ASA. The inner casing 120 may be constructed to communicate withthe hot-air or steam supply 700, so that hot-air or steam is suppliedfrom the hot-air or steam supply 700 to the clothing receiving space Sor air is discharged to the hot-air or steam supply 700. To this end,the inner casing 120 may have a plurality of through-holes 121,122, and123 defined therein communicating with the hot-air or steam supply 700.

In one example, the hot-air or steam supply 700 may be disposedseparately from the inner casing 120. The hot-air or steam supply 700may be disposed under the inner casing 120 to uniformly supply heatedair or steam at a relatively low density to the inner casing 120.

In one example, the door 111 may be pivotally coupled to the cabinet 100and may be constructed to open and close the opening. The door 111 maybe constructed to shield a front face of the hot-air or steam supply 700as well as the inner casing 120. This not only prevents the hot-air ormoisture supplied to the inner casing 120 from leaking to an outside,but also prevents heat generated from the hot-air or steam supply 700from being transferred to the outside.

Since the door 111 is constructed to open and close the front opening ofthe inner casing 120, an inner peripheral face of the inner casing 120and an inner face of the door 111 may define the clothing receivingspace S.

The hanger support may include a first hanger support 127 constructed tosupport a hanger holding clothes A inside the inner casing 120, and asecond hanger support 126 constructed to support a hanger holdingclothes A on the inner face of the door 111.

Hereinafter, description will be made on the assumption that a hangerholding the overcoat A1 is supported on the first hanger support 127 anda hanger holding the bottom A3 is supported on the second hanger support128.

The first hanger support 127 has a bar shape inside the inner casing 120so that the hanger holding the overcoat A1 may be supported thereon inthe clothing receiving space S. The first hanger support 127 may bedisposed on a top face of the inner body 210 or may be disposed on a topof a side face of the inner body 210 so that the hanger holding theovercoat Al may be supported thereon in the inner casing 120 in a fullyunfolded state. The first hanger support 127 on which the hanger holdingthe clothes A in an unfolded state by its own weight is supported ismounted on the inner casing 120 to evenly expose hot-air or steamsupplied from the hot-air or steam supply 700 to the overcoat A1.

The second hanger support 126 may support the hanger holding the bottomA3 on the inner face of the inner casing 120 or a location adjacent tothe door 111. As a result, the second hanger support 126 allows one faceof the bottom A3 to be in close contact with the inner face of the innercasing 120 or the door 111 to eliminate wrinkling therefrom.

In one example, the clothing treating apparatus 100 according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure may further include the refreshenhancing means 190 that maximizes the refresh effect of the clothes A.

The refresh enhancing means 190 may include a vibration generator 191connected to the first hanger support 127 to vibrate the first hangersupport 127, and pressing means 192 disposed under the second hangersupport 126 to pressurize the clothing.

The vibration generator 191 may be embodied as a module including amotor, pulley, and a cam to allow the first hanger support 127 toreciprocate in a longitudinal direction or along an arc path. Thus, thehot-air or steam may be evenly supplied to the surface of the overcoatA1 supported on the first hanger support 127, and foreign substancesattached to the overcoat A1 may be removed therefrom.

The pressing means 192 may be configured to be pivotally coupled to atleast one of the inner casing 120 or the door 111 to press the bottomA3. The pressing means 192 may manually press the bottom A3. Thepressing means 192 may have a hinge rotatably coupled to the innercasing 120 or the door 111, etc. to automatically press the bottom A3using a motor. The door 111 or the inner casing 120 may further includea pressed clothing seat 112 to face-contact the pressing means 192. Eachof the pressing means 192 and the pressed clothing seat 112 may have aplate shape. The pressed clothing seat 112 may apply a pressure to thebottom A3 in reaction to a pressing force from the pressing means 192.

Referring to (b) in FIG. 5, the clothing treating apparatus 100 mayfurther include the aforementioned fitting unit 200. The door 111 isdisposed at a front face of the cabinet 110 so that the user may easilyaccess the door. Therefore, the refreshing-related input interface 150and the refreshing-related output interface 140 may be disposed on theexposed surface of the door 111. The virtual output interface 210 andthe imaging unit 220 may be further disposed on the exposed surface ofthe door 111. In another example, the fitting unit 200 may be disposedon another component of the clothing treating apparatus 100.

The virtual output interface 210 may be configured to occupy most of anarea of the exposed surface of the door 111. Accordingly, the virtualoutput interface 210 achieve a mirror-like effect by displaying the samesized image as the user's actual size.

For example, the display panel 221 may be disposed on most of a frontface of the door 111. The speaker 212 may be disposed on the exposedsurface of the display panel 221 or the door 111.

Further, the imaging unit 220 may be disposed adjacent to the virtualoutput interface 210. As a result, the imaging unit 220 may recognizethe shape of the user and the clothing the user is holding or wearing atan accurate angle. Specifically, the depth camera 221 may be disposed ata level corresponding to the user's eye level. For example, the depthcamera 221 may be disposed above the virtual output interface 210. As aresult, the imaging unit 220 may image the user at the user's eye leveland display the mirror-like user image on the virtual output interface210.

The position camera 222 and the motion camera 223 may be disposedadjacent to the depth camera 221 such that the three camera mayconstitute the imaging unit 220 as a module.

The display panel 221 may also serve as the clothing screen 142 in FIG.2. Further, the clothing screen 142 may be disposed above or on one sideof the display panel 221.

In one example, the speaker 212 may also perform the role of the speaker141 in FIG. 2.

The button 153 or the microphone 152 may be disposed above or on oneside of the display panel 221 so as not to screen the display panel 221.In one example, the imaging unit 220 may be embodied as the camera 153that recognizes a user's motion.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the display panel 221 of the clothingtreating apparatus 100.

As described above, the clothing treating apparatus 100 is configured tocommunicate with the server 600 and the external terminal device 400 viathe communication module 260. Accordingly, the clothing treatingapparatus 100 may be configured to receive information on a user'sschedule or weather, and location information of a specific clothingseller from the server 600 or the external terminal device 400.

The refreshing-related input interface 150 may be configured to receivea command requesting a user's schedule, weather information, andlocation information via the specific button 153 or the microphone 151.The command may include a voice command.

When the command has been received, the refreshing-related maincontroller 180 may request the communication module 260 to receive theuser's schedule, weather information, or location information from theserver 600 or the external terminal device 400.

When the communication module 260 has received the requestedinformation, the refreshing-related main controller 180 may beconfigured to control the virtual output interface 210 to display therequested information such as the user's schedule, weather information,and location information thereon.

As a result, even when the user is spaced from the clothing treatingapparatus 100, the user may utilize the function or service provided bythe clothing treating apparatus 100 using the voice command. Further,the user may request necessary information and visually identify therequested information using the clothing treating apparatus 100 having arelatively wide display panel.

Hereinafter, a specific embodiment in which the on-line system accordingto one embodiment of the present disclosure obtains the user's bodyinformation, the stored clothing information, and the backgroundinformation of the user and recommends customized clothing based on theobtained information will be described.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in which the clothing treating apparatus 100of the on-line system according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure obtains body information BI by imaging the user body.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosureneeds to acquire user's accurate body information in order to providevirtual fitting [Augmented Reality Fitting (AR Fitting), Virtual RealityFitting (VR Fitting)] to the user. This is because the more accurate theuser's body information, the higher the accuracy of virtual fitting.

Referring to (a) in FIG. 7, the user may be positioned in front of theclothing treating apparatus 100 to allow his or her body information tobe captured. The user may be in a situation in which the user inputs acommand for inputting the body information to the refreshing-relatedinput interface 150.

When the clothing treating apparatus 100 receives the command to inputthe body information, the imaging unit 220 may image the user body. Theimage captured by the imaging unit 220 may be transferred to theaugmented computing unit 230, and may be displayed in real time on thevirtual output interface 210.

At the same time, the imaging unit 220 may recognize the identity of theimaged user. For example, one of the iris, face, and body information ofthe specific user as imaged may be recognized and stored in theaugmented storage. Accordingly, the body information of the specificuser and the body information of other the user may be stored therein ina distinguished manner. The user's body image 213 imaged by the imagingunit 220 may be displayed on the virtual output interface 210. The bodyimage 213 may be an image itself imaged by the imaging unit 220, or maybe an avatar image processed with the augmented computing unit 230.

A guide-line 214 may be displayed on the virtual output interface 210.

The guide-line 214 may refer to a line that is displayed to guide theuser's body so that the user's body information BI may be accuratelyacquired. For example, the guide-line 214 may be a line that guides theuser to maintain a state in which arms and legs are stretched out whilethe user stands in front of the apparatus 100.

Further, the guide-line 214 may refer to a line for guiding the user tobe positioned in a location where the user's body information may beaccurately measured. The user may adjust the distance from the user tothe imaging unit 220 so that his body is accurately contained in aregion defined by the guide-line 214. This allows the imaging unit 220to image the user's whole body at an optimal distance and deliver theimage to the augmented computing unit 230.

The guide-line 214 may vary frequently. As a result, the imaging unit220 may image the user's motion and at the same time, image the entireuser body including the front, rear, left and right portions. Since theimaging unit 220 includes the depth camera 221, the imaging unit 220 mayaccurately image the volume or texture of the user's body.

Referring to (b) in FIG. 7, the augmented computing unit 230 mayaccurately recognize portions of the user's body based on the imagecaptured by the imaging unit 220. For example, the contour estimatingunit 231 may accurately extract a contour Y of the user body from theimage captured by the imaging unit 220.

Further, the augmented computing unit 230 may analyze the user's motionbased on the sensing result from the motion camera 221 of the imagingunit 220, so that the user's main joint positions may be identified bythe augmented computing unit 230. The augmented computing unit 230 maystore therein an algorithm that matches major joints of the human bodywith the image captured by the imaging unit.

For example, the contour estimating unit 231 may recognize a major jointfrom the user's contour Y. The contour estimating unit 231 may locate aneck joint P1 based on the movement of the user's head and chest, andmay locate a shoulder joint P2 based on the movement of the user's armand chest. Further, the contour estimating unit 231 may grasp a positionof each of an elbow joint P3 and a wrist joint P4 based on the movementof the arm and may grasp a position of each of a hip joint P5, a kneejoint P6, and an ankle P7 based the movement of the legs.

Referring to (c) FIG. 7, the augmented computing unit 230 may determinethe length between the joints of the user based on the determinedpositions of the joints. For example, the volume sensing unit 232 maycalculate and measure the length and the volume of the user's body basedon the contour and the joint extracted by the contour estimating unit231. That is, the volume sensing unit 232 may accurately recognize thelength and the volume of each of the user's head, neck, arms, legs, andwaist.

Using the volume sensing unit 232, the specific body information BI maybe obtained by accurately detecting the user's total height, a lengthbetween specific joints, and a volume between specific joints. The bodyinformation BI may be stored in the augmented storage 240. Afterwards,the comparison recognition unit 236 may use the body information BI toidentify the change in the body information BI or to extract the storedclothing information AI when the clothing is worn on the user.

In another example, the augmented computing unit 230 may recognize theuser's skin color or eye color, iris, face, beard, hairstyle, etc. fromthe image measured by the imaging unit 220 and include the same in thebody information BI.

FIG. 8 to FIG. 10 show an embodiment in which the on-line systemaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure extracts andrecognizes the user's clothing information AI.

In order for the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure to recommend the user's stored clothing A via thefitting unit 200, specific information about the stored clothing A mustbe present and registered. When the information of the stored clothing Ais not provided as a direct file to the seller or the user, the onlinesystem according to one embodiment of the present disclosure maydirectly image the user's stored clothing A and extract and store thestored clothing information AI.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay execute a registration requesting operation G1 of requesting theuser to store the information of the clothing A that the user possessesin the on-line system. In the registration requesting operation G1, theuser may receive a command for the user to store the information aboutthe clothing that he or she possesses into the fitting unit 200 via therefreshing-related input interface 150 of the clothing treatingapparatus 100.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may be used to register theclothing, and thus may correspond to the clothing registrationapparatus.

The command may be received when the user directly inputs the button 152for requesting the registration of clothing in the refreshing-relatedinput interface 150. Alternatively, the command may be received throughthe user's voice command from the microphone 151 of therefreshing-related input interface 150.

When the registration requesting operation G1 is performed, the on-linesystem according to one embodiment of the present disclosure may executea guiding operation G2 to guide the registration of the clothing by theuser. The guiding operation G2 may allow the user to be positioned infront of the imaging unit 220 in a state in which the clothing is wornon or held by the user. In the guiding operation G2, a guide-line 214 orguiding words may be displayed on the virtual output interface 210 toguide the user to be located at an optimal location where the imagingunit 220 images the clothing A for registration of the clothing.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay perform a determining operation G3 to check whether the imaging unit220 may recognize the clothing A worn on or held by the user.

The determining operation G3 may check whether the approximate shape ofthe clothing may be determined, rather than checking whether theclothing size or volume may be accurately recognized. For example, thedetermining operation G3 may check whether the augmented computing unit230 may approximately specify the user or the clothing via the imagingunit 220.

Further, the determining operation G3 may identify who is registeringthe clothing. That is, the determining operation G3 identify whether aspecific user registers the clothing, or the specific user and anotheruser register the clothing. As a result, the clothing to be registeredand a person to wear the clothing may match each other and then thematching result may be stored in the storage.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay execute a notification operation G3-1 indicating that theregistration of the clothing is impossible when the augmented computingunit 230 may not specify the user or the clothing.

When the augmented computing unit 230 may not specify the user, theuser's identity may not be specified. Further, when the augmentedcomputing unit 230 may not specify the clothing, the clothing may not beaccurately recognized.

The notification operation G3-1 may display words indicating a statethat the registration of the clothing is impossible or words requestingthat the location of the user is changed such that the user body iscontained in a region defined by the guide-line 214, on the displaypanel 211. Further, a voice corresponding to the words may be outputthrough the speaker 212. After the notification operation G3-1, theguiding operation G2 may be repeated.

Even in this case, when the user or the clothing may not be specified,words requesting to register the user may be displayed on the displaypanel 211. This may correspond to the execution of the control method inFIG. 7.

When the recognition determining operation G3 determines that the useror clothing may be specified, the on-line system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure may execute an imaging and storingoperation G4 of imaging the user or the clothing using the imaging unit220, and transferring the captured image to the augmented computing unit230 or the augmented storage 240.

When the image and storing operation G4 is completed, the on-line systemaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure may perform aclothing extraction operation G5 in which the augmented computing unit230 extracts clothing from the captured image to obtain the clothinginformation AI.

The clothing extraction operation G5 may include a contour extractionoperation G51 in which the contour estimating unit 231 extracts thecontour of the user wearing the clothing or the user holding theclothing from the image captured by the imaging unit 220, a volumesensing operation G52 in which the volume sensing unit 233 detects thevolume of the extracted contour based on the information provided by thedepth camera 221, a clothing separation operation G53 where the clothingseparating unit 232 extracts only the clothing by removing the image orthe contour corresponding to the user's body from the contour of theuser wearing the clothing or the contour of the user who holds theclothing, and a clothing analysis operation G54 in which the clothinganalyzing unit 234 analyzes the type, shape, color, material, brand,size, volume, etc. of the extracted clothing to obtain the clothinginformation AI.

The clothing analyzing unit 234 may analyze the state of the clothingwhile applying the separated clothing to a clothing classificationprogram obtained by statistically analyzing big data of the clothing. Inthe clothing classification program, a plurality of clothing may beclassified into various categories based on a type, shape, material,color, and brand of the clothing. The clothing classification programmay match specific clothing to the category to analyze the type, shape,material, shape, color, brand, etc. of the specific clothing.

The clothing classification program may be provided from the server 600,and may be received or updated via the refreshing-related communicationmodule 260 and stored in the augmented storage 240.

When the clothing has been analyzed in the clothing extraction operationG5, a clothing storage operation G6 of storing the clothing informationAI about the clothing in the augmented storage 240 may be performed. Theclothing storage operation G6 may store the clothing that the user wantsto register into the database.

In one example, the clothing storage operation G6 may match theregistered clothing with the user who has requested the registration ofthe clothing and store the matching result. This is intended toaccurately identify a person who is to wear the clothing and use theidentification result as data for the recommendation of the suitableclothing.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay perform an additional requesting operation G7 of detecting receptionof a command to instruct the user to register additional clothing intothe on-line system according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. When the additional requesting operation G7 is performed,the guiding operation G2 is performed, so that clothing information AIabout new clothing may be stored in the augmented storage 240. When anactive command not to perform the additional requesting operation G7 isdetected or when a certain time duration has elapsed, the registering ofthe clothing may be terminated.

As a result, the user may directly register the clothing informationabout the clothing whose clothing information is not provided from theseller to the on-line system, thereby storing the clothing informationAI about the stored clothing that the user possesses into the database.Therefore, the on-line system according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure may recommend the clothing suitable for the user based on theclothing information AI to the user.

FIG. 9 shows an actual implementation of the control method of FIG. 8.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure receives a command to register the clothing from theuser, and thus the registration requesting operation G1 may beperformed.

Thereafter, the guiding operation G2 in which the clothing treatingapparatus 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosuredisplays the guiding words and guide-lines on the virtual outputinterface 210 may be performed. While the user is wearing the clothing,the user may be located in front of the imaging unit 220.

The recognition determining operation G3 checks whether the augmentedcomputing unit 230 is capable of specifying the user and clothing, usingthe imaging unit 220. In this connection, the user may be compared withuser data stored in the storage, and whether the user as imaged is aspecific user or another user may be determined based on the comparingresult. When the user is identified as the specific user, the imagingand storing operation G4 may be performed to image the specific userwearing clothing with the imaging unit 220.

In an entire image W imaged by the imaging unit 220, the background Dwhere the user is located and the contour Y of the user wearing clothingare present.

The contour extraction operation G51 in which the augmented computingunit 230 extracts the contour Y of the user wearing the clothing fromthe entire image W may be performed. For example, the contour estimatingunit 231 may extract the contour Y of the user wearing clothing from theentire image W.

Specifically, the contour estimating unit 231 may accurately recognizeand extract the contour Y based on a comparing result between thebackground information DI pre-stored in the augmented storage 240 andthe entire image W. For example, the contour estimating unit 231 maycompare the user image with the background image itself and extract animage additionally contained in the background image based on thecomparing result. In other words, the background information DI may beusually imaged by the clothing treating apparatus and stored therein.Upon receiving a command to store the background, the backgroundinformation DI may be pre-stored in the augmented storage 240.

When the contour extraction operation G51 is completed, the volumesensing operation G51 in which the volume sensing unit 233 computes thevolume of the contour Y may be performed. The volume sensing unit 233may acquire volume information using the depth camera 221. Whennecessary, the display panel 211 may be used to allow the user to rotateor change a position thereof to obtain the 3D information.

The clothing separation operation G53 may be performed in which theclothing separating unit 232 separates the clothing from the user's bodybased on the contour Y. The clothing separating unit 232 may detect aseparation line between the user's body B and the clothing A andseparate the clothing A based on the separation line. Alternatively, theclothing separating unit 232 may remove the body B from the contour Ybased on the user's body information BI to separate the clothing A fromthe image.

The clothing separating unit 232 may separate the clothing from the bodyby extracting portions with colors different from the user's skin color.Further, the clothing separating unit 232 may detect a separation lineon the separated clothing image and separate clothing along the line,based on the type of the clothing.

The clothing analysis operation G54 in which the clothing analyzing unit234 analyzes and recognizes the types of the clothing A may beperformed.

When the clothing A is composed of the top A2 and the bottom A3, theclothing analyzing unit 234 may separate the top A2 and the bottom A3from the entire separated clothing A.

The volume sensing unit 233 may accurately compute the size, area andvolume of the separated clothing A. When the size, area, and volume ofthe clothing are computed by the volume sensing unit 233, the clothinganalyzing unit 234 may analyze the type, material, shape, and color ofthe separated clothing A.

For example, the clothing analyzing unit 234 may input the type,material, color, and shape of the clothing A into the clothingclassification program to recognize that the clothing is composed of thetop A1 and the bottom A2. Then, using the clothing classificationprogram, the clothing analyzing unit 234 may recognize that the top A1is a white cotton sleeveless T-shirt, and the bottom A2 is blue jeans.

The clothing storage operation G6 may be executed in which the clothinganalyzing unit 234 stores the clothing information AI corresponding totypes, materials, colors, shapes, sizes, and volumes of the top A1 andbottom A2 along with identification numbers thereof into the augmentedstorage 240. In the clothing storage operation G6, the brand of theclothing may be recognized and stored. When the brand is not indicatedon the clothing, the brand may be stored via an user input.

Unlike shown, the user may request the registration of the clothing in astate in which the user is not wearing but holding the clothing by hand.In this case, after the imaging unit 220 images the user's entire image,the augmented computing unit 230 may separate the user's body and theclothing from each other in the entire image W, and then the clothinganalyzing unit 234 may analyze the type, material, shape, color, andbrand of the separated clothing. When the user grips a plurality ofclothing, the clothing separating unit 232 may separate each of theclothing from the user's body to extract each of the clothing therefrom.

FIG. 10 shows an embodiment in which the user repeatedly performs theadditional requesting operation G7 or executes the registrationrequesting operation G1 multiple times to obtain the stored clothinginformation AI about the stored clothing.

In the registration requesting operation G1 or the additional requestingoperation G7, the user may request the registration of the clothing in astate in which the user is wearing various clothing among a plurality oftops A2 or bottoms A3 and overcoats A1. The plurality of clothing mayinclude yellow blue-jacket A11, black wool coat A12, blue sleevelesscotton T-shirt A21, striped sleeveless acrylic T-shirt A22, sky bluecotton dress A23, red sleeveless blouse A24, yellow silk dress A25,man-to-man green T-shirt A26, long-sleeved yellow cotton T-shirt A27,top underwear A28, sleeveless pink blouse A212, jeans A31, blackthree-quarter length pants A32, beige cotton pants A33, blue tennisskirt A34, black laggings A35, and yellow cancan skirt A36.

The imaging unit 220 may image the user wearing the clothing multipletimes. The augmented computing unit 230 may extract a plurality ofcontours from the image.

For example, in a state in which the user wears the clothing 9 times,the user may request the registration of the clothing in the on-linesystem according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Theimaging unit 220 may image the user's entire image W 9 times, and thecontour estimating unit 231 may extract 9 contours Y1 to Y9.

The clothing separating unit 232 may separate and extract the clothingfrom the contours Y1 to Y9. The clothing separating unit 232 may extractthe plurality of overcoats A1, tops A2, and bottoms A3 from the contoursY1 to Y9.

The clothing analyzing unit 234 may analyze and identify the pluralityof overcoats A1, tops A2, and bottoms A3, respectively. Therefore, theclothing analyzing unit 234 may determine whether the same clothing hasbeen imaged in a duplicate manner.

The clothing analyzing unit 234 may recognize the size, shape, andvolume of each of the plurality of clothing. Further, the clothinganalyzing unit 234 may recognize and store the type of each of theplurality of clothing in the augmented storage 240. Further, theclothing analyzing unit 234 may classify the blue jacket A11 and theblack coat A12 into the overcoat A1, and may store the classificationresult along with unique identification numbers thereof into theaugmented storage 240.

The clothing analyzing unit 234 may classify a black fur coat A12, bluesleeveless cotton t-shirt A21, striped sleeveless acrylic T-shirt A22,light blue cotton dress A23, red sleeveless blouse A24, yellow silkdress A25, man-to-man green T-shirt A26, long-sleeved yellow cottonT-shirt A27, top underwear A28, sleeveless pink blouse A212 into the topA2, and may store the classification result along with uniqueidentification numbers thereof into the augmented storage 240.

The clothing analyzing unit 234 may classify jeans A31, blackthree-quarter length pants A32, beige cotton pants A33, blue H skirtA34, black laggings A35, and yellow cancan skirt A36 into the bottom A3,and may store the classification result along with unique identificationnumbers thereof into the augmented storage 240.

When the clothing has a brand marked on an outer face thereof, theclothing analyzing unit 234 may recognize and store the brand in theaugmented storage 240.

Accordingly, the augmented storage 240 may store therein the storedclothing information AI about the stored clothing, including shapes,materials, sizes, volumes, brands, etc. of the plurality of overcoats,tops, and bottom in a database format.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 show one embodiment in which the on-line systemaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure has or creates arecommendation program that may recommend the clothing suitable for theuser to the user.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 11 may include aplurality of clothing treating apparatuses 100 provided from a seller orproducer. That is, user information data including a schedule of eachuser, body information thereof, weather information, clothingpreferences of the user related to the weather and schedule, andclothing material information AI may be collected in the plurality ofclothing treating apparatuses 100 provided from the seller or producerand then may be transmitted to the server 600.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may be used to recommend clothing,and thus may correspond to a clothing recommendation apparatus.

The server 600 may also receive public information data related toclothing provided from an external organization 800. The publicinformation may include clothing information that the public uses in apublic manner, in-fashion clothing information in the fashion industry,and matching colors, matching shapes, matching materials, matchingfashions of the clothing obtained from culturally common clothinginformation, and other clothing information about clothing that the userdoes not have.

The server 600 may collect and accumulate data provided from theclothing treating apparatuses provided by the producers or the sellersor the external organization 800 to create big data.

The server 600 may analyze the big data to create the recommendationprogram itself. Alternatively, the server 600 may create therecommendation program T via deep learning of the big data.

The server 600 may perform machine learning (deep learning) via alearning formula K using the big data to analyze the pattern of thedata. The learning formula K may be an algorithm that analyzes andclassifies big data via deep machine learning. The learning formula Kmay be an algorithm that acquires a pattern of clothing worn in aspecific region, a specific time, a specific day of the week, and aspecific state from the big data.

As a result, the learning formula K may be an algorithm that deepmachine learns mixed big data without any criterion to discover andpredict clothing wearing patterns based on various criteria such as aspecific region, specific time, specific day of the week, specificweather, specific population, specific schedule, specific climate, andspecific income level.

Further, the learning formula K may be an algorithm that produces arecommendation formula or a recommendation program T that may predict acourse and an option to be performed when use history is finally inputthereto at least once. The recommendation program T may be created bythe server 60 through DNN (Depp Neural Network) as the learning formulaK. The recommendation program T may be an algorithm or a computingformula that analyzes the big data and derives an expected result valuewhen a specific state is input thereto.

The recommendation program T may be an algorithm obtained via deeplearning (machine learning), based on at least one of the history of thespecific user and any user, and various clothing information providedfrom a region where the clothing treating apparatus is located, by theserver 600 that manages the plurality of clothing treating apparatusesincluding the clothing treating apparatus.

Further, the recommendation program T may refer to an algorithm or acomputing formula capable of recommending which clothing a specific userwears under what condition later, based on what clothing a certain userwears under a specific condition.

In this connection, the recommendation may include the meaning ofrecommending what to do, and predicting what the user will do now,thereby providing convenience.

The learning formula K deep-learns the big data to create therecommendation program T, and then continuously apply subsequently inputdata into the recommendation program T to train (update or develop) therecommendation program T.

Further, the learning formula K may apply the data previously collectedby the clothing treating apparatus 100 and the external organization 800back to the learning formula K in order to generate the recommendationprogram T to upgrade the recommendation program T via machine learning.

The server 600 may transmit the recommendation program T to the clothingtreating apparatus 100, so that the recommendation program T may bepre-stored in the main storage 170 of the clothing treating apparatus100. In this case, the recommendation unit 260 of the online systemaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure may be located inthe clothing treating apparatus 100.

Further, the recommendation program T may be disposed in the server 600.Upon request, the clothing treating apparatus 100 may access the server600 via the refreshing-related communication module 260 and receive therecommendation program T stored in the server 600. Alternatively, theclothing treating apparatus 100 may directly receive the recommendedclothing as an execution result of the recommendation program T. In thiscase, the recommendation unit 260 of the online system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure may be located in the server 600.

FIG. 12 describes a principle under which the recommendation unit 260may recommend clothing via the recommendation program T.

The storage device 630 of the server 600 may store therein a schedule,body, weather, clothing preference, and worn clothing information of auser 1 as used by the clothing treating apparatus 100 provided by themanufacturer or the seller, or as provided from the externalorganization in a DB format.

When M worn clothing of the user 1 are registered, the number of theDATA may be M.

Further, the storage device 630 of the server 600 may store therein aschedule, body, weather, clothing preference, and worn clothinginformation of a user 2 as used by the clothing treating apparatus 100provided by the manufacturer or the seller, or as provided from theexternal organization in a DB format.

When M worn clothing of the user 2 are registered, the number of theDATA may be M.

When the number of users is N, the server 600 may store therein M dataof worn clothing of N users, and thus, a total of N×M DATA.

The server 600 may execute machine learning (deep learning) of the DATAvia the learning formula K to analyze patterns and rules in the DATA.Accordingly, the server 600 may execute the machine learning for asufficient time duration, and thus may create the recommendationalgorithm T that may recommend clothing that a specific user P isexpected to wear at a present time based on the clothing worn on theplurality of the user from the DATA.

When at least one of the specific user's schedule, body, weather, andspecific clothing is input to the recommendation algorithm T, therecommendation algorithm T may recommend clothing which the specificuser intends or is expected to wear at a current time, or is suitablefor the specific user.

The specific clothing may correspond to one of the clothing. When theuser selects the bottom A3 as the specific clothing, and when the userwants to receive the recommendation of the top A2 or the overcoat A1,the bottom A3 may be input to the recommendation algorithm T.

The recommendation algorithm T may be composed a weight matrix and abias vector.

Thus, the on-line system according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure may recommend optimal clothing at the present time toincrease user convenience.

In another example, the recommendation algorithm T may be stored in theexternal terminal device 400.

FIG. 13 to FIG. 19 show an embodiment in which the on-line systemaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure recommendsclothing.

FIG. 13 shows a method in which the on-line system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure recommends clothing.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay perform a recommendation request receiving operation H1 of receivinga request command requesting the recommendation of the clothing suitablefor the user from the user. The request command may be received via therefreshing-related input interface 150 of the clothing treatingapparatus 100, or may be received via the terminal input interface 430of the external terminal device 400.

When the recommendation request receiving operation H1 has beenperformed, the on-line system according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure may perform a request state recognition operation H2 ofidentifying a request state that the user currently requests therecommendation. The request state recognition operation H2 may identifyan input value input to the recommendation algorithm T. The input valuemay include schedule information and weather information that may bereceived through the external terminal device 400 or the server 600.

Further, the input value may include body information BI of a currentuser which may be obtained via the imaging unit 220 or the augmentedstorage 240. The body information BI may be used to identify the currentuser among the plurality of the user.

The input value may include the specific clothing currently worn on thespecific user. Additional information such as a nature and a backgroundof a place to which the user should go, and information about thecompanion may be further included in the input value.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay input the input value to the recommendation unit 250 and execute therecommendation algorithm T and receive appropriate clothing therefrom.

The stored clothing matching unit 251 may first input the storedclothing information AI into the recommendation algorithm T and outputsthe recommended clothing Z1, and the matching level determination unit253 may calculate the matching level of the recommended clothing Z1.When the matching level is higher than or equal to a reference value,the recommended clothing Z1 may be transmitted to the augmentedcomputing unit 230.

In one example, when the matching level of the recommended clothing Z1is lower than the reference value, the purchase target clothing matchingunit 252 may input the purchase target clothing C into therecommendation algorithm T and output the recommended clothing Z2. Then,a matching level of Z2 of the recommended clothing may be computed bythe matching level determination unit 253. When the matching level isgreater than or equal to the reference value, the recommended clothingZ2 may be transmitted to the augmented computing unit.

When the augmented computing unit 230 receives the recommended clothing,the clothing combination unit 237 of the augmented computing unit 230may render the recommended clothing A on the user's body B image andoutput the rendering result to the virtual output interface 210. Thus,the user may identify the state in which the clothing is actually wornon the user through the virtual output interface 210.

In one example, the additional recommendation unit 254 may check whetherthe matching level is further improved when additional accessories, etc.are combined with the recommended clothing Z1 and Z2.

The accessory A4 may be included in either the stored clothing A or thepurchase target clothing C. The additional recommendation unit 254 maytransmit the accessory Z3 whose matching level with the recommendedclothing is improved to the augmented computing unit 230. The additionalcombination unit 238 may additionally combine the recommended accessoryZ3 with the rendered image.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay perform a determination correction operation H4 of displaying thecombined image on the virtual output interface 210 and determining theuser's satisfaction.

In the determination correction operation H4, upon receiving anindication that the user is satisfied with the recommended clothing Z1and Z2 via the refreshing-related input interface 150 or the externalterminal device 400, the recommendation unit 250 may recommend therecommended clothing in a similar manner next time.

However, upon receiving an indication that the user requests furtherclothing or finally confirms the recommended clothing based on acomparison result via the refreshing-related input interface 150 or theexternal terminal device 400, the recommendation unit 250 may recommendclothing such that the user's choice or preference is considered at thenext recommendation.

When the recommended clothing Z2 is present in the purchase targetclothing information C, the on-line system according to one embodimentof the present disclosure may perform a purchase checking operation H5of identifying whether the user is willing to purchase the recommendedclothing Z2. The purchase checking operation H5 may include notifyingthat the purchase is required, and asking whether to perform thepurchase via the virtual output interface 210.

The user may request the execution of the purchase via therefreshing-related input interface 150 or the external terminal device400. The on-line system according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure may perform a payment execution operation H6 of tracking theseller of the recommended clothing Z2, and proceeding with the purchasebased on the payment information FI.

FIG. 14 shows one embodiment in which the method for recommending theclothing is performed by the on-line system according to one embodimentof the present disclosure.

A specific user I may issue a voice command toward the clothing treatingapparatus 100. The voice command may be “Recommend today's clothing”.The microphone 152 of the clothing treating apparatus 100 may receivethe voice command. The clothing treating apparatus 100 may receive thevoice command and transmit the command to the refreshing-related maincontroller 180 or the server 600 to interpret the voice command, therebyperforming the recommendation request receiving operation H1.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may receive weather information,schedule information, etc. through the server 600 or the externalterminal device 400, and may perform the request state recognitionoperation H2 of identifying the user requesting the recommendation.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may perform the clothingrecommendation operation H3 in which the recommendation unit 250recommends the recommended clothing Z suitable for the specific userrequesting the recommendation, using the database containing the storedclothing A and the purchase target clothing C stored in the augmentedstorage 240.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may display the recommended clothingZ on the virtual output interface 210 as it is. The clothing treatingapparatus 100 may display a list of the recommended clothing Z on thevirtual output interface 21. For example, the list may include the type,price, brand, and shape of the recommended top A2, bottom A3, andaccessory A4.

The recommended clothing Z may be rendered on the user's image. However,the augmented computing unit 230 may combine the recommended clothing Zitself with the virtual avatar, or output only a photo or an image ofthe recommended clothing Z on the virtual output interface 21.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may perform the purchase checkingoperation H5 of notifying that the scarf A4 needs to be purchased whenthe scarf A4 is the purchase target clothing C.

Thus, the user may identify suitable clothing for the current statewithout having to directly select suitable clothing or remember all ofthe clothing he has, and may identify which clothing needs to bepurchased. Furthermore, the user may improve fashion sense or fashionknowledge by identifying suitable clothing combinations.

FIG. 15 shows one embodiment of the payment execution operation H6.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may receive a voice command such as“Purchase a scarf” as a request of the purchase of clothing that theuser does not own such as scarf A4. When the clothing treating apparatus100 receives the voice command, the apparatus interprets the voicecommand via the refreshing-related main controller 180 or the server600.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may receive a result of searchingfor a plurality of sellers selling the scarf via the server 600. Theplurality of sellers may sell the scarf online or offline and may uploadthe scarfs price information, etc. to an online site thereof. Theinformation may be collected by the server 600 which in turn may providethe information to the clothing treating apparatus 100.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may display the collected sellerinformation on the virtual output interface 210. When there are aplurality of the sellers, a location map or online site, and sellingprice information of the plurality of sellers may be displayed on thevirtual output interface 210. This allows the user to select a sellerwith good accessibility or low price.

The payment information F may be stored in the augmented storage 240 ofthe clothing treating apparatus 100. The server 600 may be able toaccess an online sales site provided by the seller. Therefore, theclothing treating apparatus 100 may purchase the scarf immediately uponreceiving the user's final purchase request, and the seller may proceedwith delivery thereof to a delivery address desired by the user. Thedelivery address may be stored in the augmented storage 240.Alternatively, the user may input the delivery address through therefreshing-related input interface 150 or the external terminal device400.

FIG. 16 shows another embodiment in which the method for recommendingthe clothing is performed by the on-line system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to (a) in FIG. 16, in the recommendation request receivingoperation H1, a specific user may send a request command requesting therecommendation of clothing in a state in which the user is wearing atleast some clothing. For example, in a state in which the user iswearing a beige viscose tennis skirt A37, black three-quarter lengthpants A32, and top underwear A27, the specific user may send the requestcommand requesting the recommendation of a blouse matching the tennisskirt A37.

The request command may include a specific voice command, and mayinclude a motion command for the user to grip the tennis skirt A37 byhand. The motion command may be recognized by the motion recognitioncamera 222 of the imaging unit 220.

Referring to (b) in FIG. 16, the fitting unit 200 may perform a requeststate recognition operation H2 of imaging a specific user's state withthe imaging unit 220. Based on the image captured by the imaging unit220, the augmented computing unit 230 may recognize the state of theuser's body B and the user's current clothing A.

The imaging unit 220 may image the user's state and display the state onthe virtual output interface 210. The user's body image 213 and theclothing A28 and A37 worn on the user may be displayed on the virtualoutput interface 210.

In one example, the augmented recognition unit 230 may consider that theuser has specified the “skirt A37”, and thus may display an image freeof the black three-quarter length pants A32 on the virtual outputinterface 210.

The augmented computing unit 230 may input the viscose tennis skirt A37as the input value to the recommendation unit 250 according to theanalyzed request command, but may exclude the black three-quarter lengthpants A32 and top underwear A27 from the input value. Thus, even whenthe user is wearing clothing not related to the recommendation, theon-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosureexcludes the clothing that the user does not intend to wear and mayrecommend only suitable clothing for the intended specific clothing.

Referring to (c) in FIG. 16, in the clothing recommendation operationH3, the recommendation unit 250 may input the specific user's schedule,weather information, preference, stored clothing information AI, bodyinformation BI, fashion, purchase target clothing information CI and thetennis skirt A37 into the recommendation program T and thus mayrecommend a pink blouse A212 as a suitable recommended clothing Z. Theaugmented computing unit 230 may render an actual size of therecommended clothing Z onto the body image 213 of the user. The renderedimage may be displayed on the virtual output interface 210 as it is.

Then, the user may request the recommendation of other clothing orrequest the comparison and thus the system may perform the determinationcorrection operation H4.

FIG. 17 shows another embodiment in which the method for recommendingthe clothing is performed by the on-line system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to (a) in FIG. 17, the recommendation request receivingoperation H1 may be performed by the clothing treating apparatus 100recognizing the user's voice command “Recommend clothes”. The clothingtreating apparatus 100 may perform the request state recognitionoperation H2 by imaging the specific user with the imaging unit 220.

The augmented computing unit 230 may perform the clothing recommendationoperation H3 of computing the clothing Z1 suitable for the current userusing the recommendation unit 250 and the augmented storage 240, andrendering a state in which the user fully wears the recommended clothingZ1 onto the user's actual image 214 and displaying the rendered image onthe virtual output interface 210.

Even when the specific user is in a state wearing completely irrelevantclothing such as pajamas, the augmented computing unit 230 may renderthe state in which the user fully wears the recommended clothing Z1 ontothe user's image 213 and may display the rendered image on the virtualoutput interface 210.

Referring to (b) in FIG. 17, the system may perform the determinationcorrection operation H4 while the user is changing his/her location. Forexample, when the system has performed the recommendation requestreceiving operation H1 at a current location P1 of the user, the usermay change the location to P2. The P2 may be a position adjacent to theP1.

For example, an area in front of the virtual output interface 210 andcorresponding to the area of virtual output interface 210 may be dividedinto P1 and P2. When the user changes the location thereof between P1and P2, the augmented computing unit may associate this change with acommand to perform the determination correction operation.

Further, the position camera 222 may detect whether the changed positionof the user is within a preset range. When the augmented computing unit230 recognizes that the user's location has changed such that thelocation is out of the preset range, the augmented computing unit 230may interpret the location change as a comparison command requestingthat clothing other than the current recommended clothing Z1 should berecommended. In another example, the comparison command may be a directvoice command such as “Compare” from the user.

Upon receiving the comparison command, the recommendation unit 250 mayrecommend recommended clothing Z2 other than the recommended clothingZ1. The augmented computing unit 230 may render the other recommendedclothing Z2 onto the user image and display the rendered image on thevirtual output interface 210.

In the determination correction operation H4, the augmented computingunit 230 may simultaneously display the first recommended clothing Z1and the subsequent recommended clothing Z2 on the virtual outputinterface 210.

Accordingly, the user may select the clothing suitable for himself whilecomparing the recommended plurality of clothing. Further, the user'sselection may be considered as an input value of the preference to therecommendation unit 250, and may affect the output value to berecommended later.

FIG. 18 shows another embodiment in which the method for recommendingthe clothing is performed by the on-line system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

(a) in FIG. 18 shows that the recommendation request receiving operationH1 to the clothing recommendation operation H3 are performed.

Referring to (b) in FIG. 18, in the determination correction operationH4, the user may send a request to determine whether the recommendedclothing matches with another user E. When the on-line system accordingto one embodiment of the present disclosure receives the determinationrequest, the system may display the combination of the recommendedclothing Z1 and the other person E on the virtual output interface 210,based on the other person information EI stored in the augmented storage240.

This allows the user to identify whether the other person E matches therecommended clothing Z1. The other person information EI may be imagedusing the imaging unit 220 and then may be registered in the augmentedstorage 250. General photos as the other person information EIregistered in the external terminal device 400 or the server 600 may betransmitted to and stored in the augmented storage 250.

Referring to (c) FIG. 18, in the additional request receiving operationH1, a plurality of the user may request clothing recommendationtogether. The augmented computing unit 230 may request therecommendation unit 250 to recommend a couple-look when contours of theplurality of the users are recognized from the image captured by theimaging unit 220. The recommendation unit 250 may input informationabout the plurality of the users to the recommendation algorithm T tooutput couple-looks Z1 and Z2.

The augmented computing unit 230 may render the couple-looks Z1 and Z2onto the images of the plurality of the users and display the renderedimage on the virtual output interface 210.

Accordingly, the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may recommend the clothing for the plurality of theusers at the same time or may allow the specific user to recommend theclothing suitable for another user.

FIG. 19 shows another embodiment in which the method of recommending theclothing is performed by the on-line system according to one embodimentof the present disclosure.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay recommend a plurality of clothing together and display all of themon the virtual output interface 210 in the clothing recommendationoperation H3 and may allow the user to directly select one of theplurality of clothing in the determination correction operation H4.

Referring to (a) in FIG. 19, the user may request the recommendation ofaccessory A4. The on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may recommend a plurality of scarfs among accessoryA4 and display them on the display panel 211.

A first scarf A41 with the highest matching level among the plurality ofscarfs may be rendered onto the user's image 213, and the rendered imagemay be displayed on the virtual output interface 210. A second scarf A42and a third scarf A43 with relatively lower matching levels may bedisplayed in a separated manner from the user's image 213 on the displaypanel 211. In another example, the plurality of scarfs may be displayedvirtually on the display panel 211 without being rendered on the user'simage 213.

The motion recognition unit 223 of the imaging unit 220 may beconfigured to recognize the movement of the user's finger HP.

Referring to (b) in FIG. 19, the user may move his finger HP in the air.The motion recognition unit 223 may recognize this motion. The augmentedcomputing unit 230 may move the plurality of scarfs displayed on thevirtual output interface 210 along the motion.

For example, the first scarf A41 rendered onto the user image may beseparated from the user's image 213. The third scarf A43 may be renderedonto the user's image 213.

The user may repeat the above process to determine a desired scarf amongthe plurality of scarfs.

FIG. 20 to FIG. 22 show another embodiment of the virtual fitting unit200 of the on-line system according to the present disclosure.

As described above, the fitting unit 200 of the on-line system accordingto one embodiment of the present disclosure may store the user's bodyinformation BI obtained with the imaging unit 220 into the augmentedcomputing unit 230, and the augmented storage 240.

In one example, the user's body information BI may change over time. Forexample, when the user exercises or overeats frequently, the volume ofthe body may increase. When the user is on a diet, the volume of thebody may be reduced. The fitting unit 200 needs to update the bodyinformation BI while frequently imaging the user's body information BIwith the imaging unit 220.

Accordingly, the fitting unit 200 may provide a service for notifyingthe user of the change in the body information BI. The fitting unit 200may notify the user of the overall change of the body information BIusing the 3D image. The change of the specific body portion may benotified to the user in the 3D manner.

Further, the fitting unit 200 may numerically express the change in thebody information BI using the augmented computing unit 230. The fittingunit 200 may compare the stored clothing information AI and the purchasetarget clothing information CI in the augmented storage 240 with theuser's body information BI, and may notify the user of which clothingmay be worn on the user and which clothing may not be worn on the user,based on the body change.

Accordingly, the user may intuitively observe the changes in his or herbody, as well as recognize the change in the wearable and non-wearableclothing.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay perform a scan request receiving operation I1 of receiving a scancommand requesting to scan his/her body from the user.

In the scan request receiving operation I1, the user may registerhis/her body information to the fitting unit 200, and may request changein the body information to the clothing treating apparatus 100.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay perform a scan guiding operation I2 of displaying requirementsnecessary for the scan of the user body on the virtual output interface210. The scan guiding operation I2 may include displaying a guide-line214 on the display panel 211 or outputting a guidance voice from thespeaker 212.

When the user's response is performed according to the scan guidingoperation I2, the on-line system according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure may perform an imaging operation I3 of imaging theuser's body with the imaging unit 220.

In the imaging operation I3, the augmented computing unit 230 mayextract the user's body contour, and may compute the user's body volume.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay perform a completion determining operation I4 to check whether theimage contains sufficient body information. When an additional image isneeded, the scan guiding operation I2 may be repeated.

When the acquiring of the body information BI is completed, the on-linesystem according to one embodiment of the present disclosure may performa scan result presenting operation I5 of displaying the user's 3D avatarimage or the user's body image on the virtual output interface 210.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay compare current body information BI with previous body informationBI, and check the wearable and non-wearable clothing in the storedclothing information A, based on the comparing result. This operationmay be referred to as a stored clothing checking operation I6.

In the stored clothing checking operation I6, a list of clothing thatmay and may not be worn on the user in the stored clothing informationAI may be displayed on the virtual output interface 210 or the externalterminal device 400. Further, in the stored clothing checking operationI6, clothing that may and may not be worn on the user in the storedclothing information AI may be displayed on the virtual output interface210.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay compare current body information BI with previous body informationBI, and check the wearable and non-wearable clothing in the purchasetarget clothing information CI. This operation may be referred to asanother clothing checking operation I7.

In the other clothing checking operation I7, a list of wearable andnon-wearable clothing in the purchase target clothing information CI maybe displayed on the virtual output interface 210 or the externalterminal device 400.

Further, in the other clothing checking operation I7, clothing that maybe worn on the use and clothing that may not be worn on the user in thepurchase target clothing information CI may be displayed on the virtualoutput interface 210.

The on-line system according to one embodiment of the present disclosuremay perform a comparing operation I8 of comparing the previous bodyinformation BI and the current body information BI with each other.

In the comparing operation I8, the previous body image or avatar and thecurrent body image or avatar may be displayed on the virtual outputinterface 210, such that a change amount of the body image or avatar maybe indicated numerically.

FIG. 21 shows one embodiment in which the process of FIG. 20 isperformed.

Referring to (a) in FIG. 21, the user may utter a voice command “Scan mybody” or input the command on the refreshing-related input interface 150while being located in front of the clothing treating apparatus 100 toenable a scan request receiving operation I1 to be executed.

In response, the clothing treating apparatus 100 may display theguide-line 214 on the display panel 211, and may use the speaker 212 toguide the user's location or motion. This operation may be referred toas a scan guiding operation I2. When the user takes an appropriateposition or motion, the clothing treating apparatus 100 may perform animaging operation I3 of imaging the user's body.

For example, a front guide-line 214 a for imaging the user's frontportion may be displayed on the display panel 211. Guiding words“Please, look at the front and stand in an alignment with a line” may beoutput from the speaker 212. The body may be imaged when the user's bodyis contained in a region defined in the guide-line 214 a at a certainpercentage. The certain percentage may be above 70%, for example.

The clothing treating apparatus 100 may image the front portion of theuser with the imaging unit 220.

Referring to (b) in FIG. 21, the display panel 211 may display a sideguide-line 214 b for imaging the user's side portion thereon. Guidingwords “Please, turn to the side and stand in an alignment with a line”may be output from the speaker 212. The clothing treating apparatus 100may image the user's side portion using the imaging unit 220.

In one example, the augmented computing unit 230 may determine that arear portion image of the user is needed to complete the user's bodyinformation.

Referring to (c) FIG. 21, the display panel 211 may display a rearguide-line 214 c for imaging the user's rear portion thereon. Guidingwords “Please, turn back and stand in an alignment with a line” may beoutput from the speaker 212. The clothing treating apparatus 100 mayimage the user's rear portion using the imaging unit 220.

Referring to (d) in FIG. 21, the augmented computing unit 230 mayextract the user's body contour from each of the images via the contourestimating unit 231. Then, the volume sensing unit 232 may calculate theactual volume of the contour.

The augmented computing unit 230 may acquire the user's body informationBI based on the computed value. The body information BI may correspondto a 3D profile.

The augmented computing unit 230 may output the user's image as anavatar S on the virtual output interface 210, based on the bodyinformation BI.

The avatar S may rotate and may be output on the virtual outputinterface 210, and may be divided into a front avatar S2 and a sideavatar S1.

Thereafter, the augmented computing unit 230 may use the comparisonrecognition unit 236 to analyze the stored clothing information AI andthe purchase target clothing information CI together, and may compute alist of the wearable and unwearable clothing, based on the analysisresult.

The virtual output interface 210 may display the list thereon. The listmay include the clothing's specific identification number and brand. Forexample, the virtual output interface 210 may indicate that the user'sbody volume has been reduced by 10%, so that the user may wear A31, andA22, but may not wear A32 and A23. Further, the virtual output interface210 may indicate that the clothing of the brand Q smaller than those ofother brands may be worn on the user.

Referring to FIG. 22, the user may actively send a comparison command tothe clothing treating apparatus 100 to ask for comparison betweencurrent and previous body information. When the clothing treatingapparatus 100 has received the comparison command, the previous avatarSb based on the previous body information and the current avatar SAbased on the current body information may be displayed on the virtualoutput interface 210. Further, the virtual output interface 210 may alsodisplay the amount of the body change thereon. For example, when thevolume of the user body has been reduced by 10%, words indicating thatthe body volume has been reduced by 10% may be output.

Thus, the user may intuitively observe the change of his/her body, andmay check performances such as exercise, problems with overeating, andimportance of a pose.

The above-described control method may be applied even when a pluralityof the users use the on-line system. That is, the on-line system maydistinguish between and store the body information of the plurality ofthe users in the process of obtaining the body information of the users.Further, when a specific user among the plurality of the users requestsone of clothing registration, recommendation, and body scan, the on-linesystem may recognize the specific user, and may execute the registrationof clothing, clothing recommendation, and body scan corresponding to thespecific user.

Therefore, the plurality of the users may use a single on-line system toreceive the service including the clothing registration, clothingrecommendation, and body scan in the personalized manner withoutconfusion.

The present disclosure may be modified and implemented in various forms,and thus the scope of the rights thereof is not limited to theabove-described embodiment. Therefore, when the modified embodimentincludes elements of Claims, the modified embodiment should be regardedas belonging to the scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A clothing registration apparatus comprising: Acabinet defining an appearance of the apparatus; an imaging unitdisposed in the cabinet to image an external object; a computing unitconfigured to analyze an image captured by the imaging unit; a storagefor storing the image captured by the imaging unit or an analysis resultfrom the computing unit; and an input interface for receiving a commandto image and store clothing, wherein when the input interface hasreceived the command, the computing unit is configured to specify theclothing in the captured image and store the clothing in the storage. 2.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computing unit is configured toextract clothing information including at least one of a shape, amaterial, and a color from the specified clothing and store the clothinginformation in the storage.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein theapparatus further comprises a further storage for pre-storing therein abackground imaged by the imaging unit, and body information of aspecific user having the clothing, wherein the computing unit isconfigured to: compare an image of a combination of the specific userand the clothing with the background stored in the further storage andextract an appearance of the specific user based on the comparingresult; and compare the body information stored in the further storagewith the appearance of the specific user and extract the clothing basedon the comparing result.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein thecomputing unit is configured to extract the clothing information aboutthe clothing worn on the specific user and store the clothinginformation in the storage.
 5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein thecomputing unit is configured to: recognize a separation line from theextracted clothing, or use a server to recognize an overcoat, a top anda bottom and separate the overcoat, the top and the bottom from eachother; and individually extract clothing information of at least one ofthe overcoat, the top or the bottom and store the extracted clothinginformation in the storage.
 6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein thecomputing unit is configured to extract the clothing information ofclothing held by the specific user on a hand thereof and store theextracted information in the storage.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the input interface includes a button disposed on the cabinet,and a voice recognition unit configured to recognize a voice command ofthe specific user.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatusfurther comprises a display disposed on the cabinet to display the imagecaptured by the imaging unit or an image transmitted from the computingunit, wherein the display displays: a guide-line to guide the specificuser such that the computing unit recognizes the clothing; and a guidesign to guide the specific user to rotate in a 360 degrees range.
 9. Aclothing recommendation apparatus comprising: A cabinet defining anappearance of the apparatus; an input interface disposed in the cabinetto receive a recommendation command requesting clothing recommendation;an imaging unit disposed on the cabinet to image clothing and/or amotion of a specific user; and a computing unit configured analyze theclothing and/or the motion of the specific user; a recommendation unitconfigured to determine clothing to be recommended, based on an analysisresult from the computing unit, when the input interface has receivedthe recommendation command; and a display for displaying the clothingdetermined to be recommended by the recommendation unit thereon, whereinthe recommendation unit is configured to recommend specific clothingfrom a plurality of clothing including stored clothing possessed by thespecific user, based on the clothing and/or the motion.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the computing unit is configured torecognize clothing selected by the user in response to at least one ofthe recommendation command or the motion.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the apparatus further comprises: a storage for storing thereinclothing information about the stored clothing and providing theclothing information to the recommendation unit; and a communicationmodule configured to deliver purchase target clothing information aboutpurchase target clothing that the specific user may purchase to therecommendation unit.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein when theclothing recommended by the recommendation unit includes the purchasetarget clothing, the computing unit is configured to display thepurchase target clothing information on the display.
 13. The apparatusof claim 12, wherein the storage further stores therein paymentinformation used for the specific user to purchase the purchase targetclothing, wherein when the input interface has received a purchasecommand from the specific user, the communication module is configuredto deliver the purchase command and the payment information to a serveror a seller of the purchase target clothing.
 14. A clothingrecommendation apparatus comprising: a cabinet defining an appearance ofthe apparatus; an input interface disposed on the cabinet to receive arecommendation command requesting clothing recommendation; arecommendation unit configured to determine clothing to be recommendedamong a plurality of clothing when the input interface has received thecommand; and a display for displaying the clothing determined to berecommended by the recommendation unit thereon. wherein therecommendation unit is configured to recommend the plurality of clothingat the same time, wherein the display is configured to display theplurality of clothing sequentially or simultaneously.
 15. The apparatusof claim 14, wherein the apparatus further comprises a motionrecognition unit configured to recognize a motion of a specific user,wherein when the motion recognition unit detects the motion of thespecific user, the display is configured to display changed clothingamong the plurality of clothing recommended by the recommendation unit.16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus further comprises amotion recognition unit configured to recognize a motion of a specificuser, wherein when the motion recognition unit detects the motion of thespecific user, the display is configured to change a position wherespecific clothing among the plurality of clothing is displayed.
 17. Aclothing recommendation apparatus comprising: a cabinet defining anappearance of the apparatus; an input interface disposed on the cabinetto receive a recommendation command requesting clothing recommendation;a recommendation unit configured to determine clothing to be recommendedamong a plurality of clothing when the input interface has received thecommand; an imaging unit disposed on the cabinet and configured to imagea specific user; a computing unit configured to render the clothingrecommended by the recommendation unit onto an image of the specificuser; and a display for displaying the rendered image thereon; whereinthe input interface is configured to receive a comparison command toinstruct the computing unit to compare the rendered image with anotherimage to obtain a comparison result, wherein when the input interfacehas received the comparison command, the computing unit is configured todisplay the comparison result on the display.
 18. The apparatus of claim17, wherein the comparison command includes an additional command torecommend clothing different from the recommended clothing, or aspecific motion to instruct the display to change a position or an areaon which the recommended clothing is displayed.
 19. The apparatus ofclaim 18, wherein the computing unit is configured to render each offirst clothing first recommended by the recommendation unit and secondclothing additionally recommended by the recommendation unit onto theimage of the specific user, and to display each of first and secondrendered images on the display.
 20. The apparatus of claim 17, whereinthe comparison command includes a command to request comparison betweenthe image of the specific user and an image of another user, wherein thecomputing unit is configured to display both of the rendered image ofthe specific user and the image of another user on the display.
 21. Theapparatus of claim 17, wherein the comparison command includes a requestto change a background of the rendered image, wherein the computing unitis configured to change a background displayed on the display.
 22. Ahome appliance comprising: a cabinet defining an appearance of theappliance; an input interface disposed on the cabinet to receive a scancommand to measure a body shape of a specific user; an imaging unitdisposed on the cabinet and configured to image the specific user; acomputing unit configured to calculate the body shape of the specificuser based on an image captured by the imaging unit; and a displayconfigured to model and display the body shape of the specific usercalculated by the computing unit.
 23. The home appliance of claim 22,wherein the display displays a guide-line thereon to guide the specificuser to rotate or change a pose thereof.
 24. The home appliance of claim22, wherein the appliance further comprises a storage for storingtherein previous body shape information of the specific user, whereinthe display is configured to model and display the body shape of thespecific user calculated by the computing unit and the previous bodyshape thereof, or display a difference between the body shape of thespecific user calculated by the computing unit and the previous bodyshape thereof,
 25. The home appliance of claim 24, wherein the appliancefurther comprises a storage for storing therein stored clothinginformation about stored clothing possessed by the specific user,wherein the computing unit is configured to: determine first clothingwhich the user may wear and second clothing which the user may not wearamong the stored clothing, based on the difference; display the firstand second clothing on the display.
 26. The home appliance of claim 24,wherein the appliance further comprises a communication moduleconfigured to deliver, to the computing unit, purchase target clothinginformation about purchase target clothing which the specific user maywear, wherein the computing unit is configured to display a brand or atype of purchase target clothing matching the body type on the display.